HRCSL raises concerns on proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has raised concerns that the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill poses to threaten the fundamental rights of the public.

Issuing a press release in this regard, the HRCSL explained that by way of  the broad definition given to the term ‘terrorism’ in the newly proposed Bill, it stands to potentially violate the fundamental rights of the people, as it makes it difficult to distinguish an actual act of terrorism from a legitimate protest.

Speaking in this regard, Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thero stated that there is a risk of parts of their sermons being misinterpreted as support shown towards terrorist activities.

“What if they take certain parts of our sermons, and decide that we are preaching these in an attempt to support terrorist activities? Sometimes we even criticise political structures in our sermons”, he said in this regard.

Meanwhile, Minister of Justuce Wijeyadasa Rajapaskhe stated today (06 April) that it has been decided to postpone tabling the Anti-Terrorism Bill in the parliament, considering the requests made by the members of the opposition, attorneys and civil society activists.