Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the Sri Lankan authorities for their ongoing use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to target perceived opponents and minority communities without credible evidence. Despite repeated promises to end this practice, the international watchdog claims that the PTA continues to be misused under President Ranil Wickremesinghe's administration.
In a statement released on Wednesday (17), HRW highlighted that many victims of the PTA suffer years of arbitrary detention and torture, with persecution continuing even after charges are dropped. The PTA allows for extended administrative detention, limited judicial oversight, and inadequate protections against torture.
Former Foreign Minister pledged a moratorium on the PTA in a 2022 speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council, but detentions under the PTA have persisted. HRW noted the chilling effect of the law, pointing out that in September 2023, the International Monetary Fund found that the "broad application of counter-terrorism rules" hampers civil society scrutiny of official corruption.
Since 2015, the government has promised to repeal the PTA. Draft legislation to replace it, known as the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB), was published in March 2023. While the new bill contains some improvements, HRW warns that it still includes provisions that could facilitate abuse.
The PTA's impact was starkly visible after the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, which killed over 260 people. Authorities detained at least 125 Muslims in Kattankudy under the PTA, with most spending one to three years in detention without sufficient evidence. Twenty-four of them are still facing trial.
HRW also criticized the ATB, stating that it, like the PTA, grants the president, police, and military broad powers to detain people without evidence, criminalize vaguely defined speech, and ban gatherings and organizations without meaningful judicial oversight. The ATB would expand the definition of terrorism to include property damage, restrict freedoms of assembly and speech, and give the police and military sweeping powers to arrest without a warrant. It also allows the attorney general to impose custodial "rehabilitation" on individuals not convicted of any crime.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Sri Lankan government to impose a full moratorium on the PTA, repeal it, and draft rights-respecting counterterrorism legislation in consultation with experts and civil society.
