Death penalty is being reduced worldwide but Sri Lanka plans to stick to it through the new bill
Commuters walk past a cut-out banner of Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe, installed along a street in Colombo on March 22. Wickremesinghe told the national parliament that the International Monetary Fund approving Sri Lanka’s rescue program on March 20 was only the beginning of more difficult structural reforms. (Photo: AFP)
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo has criticized Sri Lanka’s move to enact a new anti-terrorism law saying it aims to silence critics and suppress people’s protests in the troubled South Asian island nation.
The 75-year-old cardinal said that the bill is a complete violation of international human rights law and asked everyone to oppose it.
“It curbs the freedom of speech,” Ranjith said on April 4 in the capital Colombo and added that the government aims to silence its critics through intimidation.
The new bill stipulates harsh punishments including death for perceived terror crimes.
“The death penalty is being reduced throughout the world but the [Sri Lankan] government has included the death penalty in the bill,” said Ranjith.
“If the president wants, he can ban even a political party through the new bill. The bill is being brought to control these protests,” he said.
The government proposes the bill when “there is no terrorist atmosphere” in the country. But there are “protests across the country” against the government policies that are inadequate to help face the severe economic crisis in the country, he noted.
The government published the 97-page Anti-Terrorism Bill on March 22 to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of 1979.
The terrorism act was enacted to help government face the 30-year-old civil war, which ended in 2009. Successive governments used the law to quell rural unrest in the country’s southern part which killed thousands.
Ranjith said the bill’s supporters “do not love the citizens. Everyone should oppose the bill.”
Rights activist Surini Attapaththu, who participated in the nationwide anti-government stir last year, said the bill could be used against minority groups, activists and protesters.
Attapaththu said the bill’s definition of terrorism is “broad and contains vague notions like infringement of the sovereignty of the country. These terms remind the country’s past record of abuse under anti-terror laws.”
Laws should become more people-friendly during an economic crisis, she opined.
The European Union, United States, and international rights group Amnesty International had asked the government not to use the terrorism law against the protesters and to repeal the already existing draconian anti-terror law.
Human rights organizations and opposition parties have also opposed the new bill, saying it can suppress freedom of expression.
The Centre for Policy Alternatives, a leading Sri Lankan think tank, said the bill requires serious attention as the government has earlier used its terrorism law to target protesters, critics and minorities.
The bill empowers police to detain people without a warrant and gives the president powers to make regulations, said the center said.
An import-reliant Sri Lanka is currently headed by an interim government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe after angry protests removed former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa last year as the nation of 22 million people went bankrupt.
Sri Lankans, who are facing massive increases in taxes, electricity and water charges, and skyrocketing inflation, now will have to put up with more austerity measures imposed by the government.
The government has already hinted at the privatization of state-owned enterprises and the elimination of thousands of government jobs.
Wickremesinghe has already named those protesting against his austerity measures as “fascists” and “terrorists.”
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