By The Pulseline News Desk
Former Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) President Saliya Peiris PC has warned that Sri Lanka’s proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Bill (PSTB), intended to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), could enable prolonged detention and renewed abuse of counter-terrorism powers if enacted in its current form.
Peiris, who served as a BASL nominee on the committee that reviewed the proposed legislation, has said the Bill tabled in Parliament contains major deviations from provisions agreed upon by the committee, particularly regarding bail and the extension of detention.
In a statement, Peiris has said he had disagreed with the committee majority on three key issues: the definition of terrorism, which he considered excessively broad and open to abuse; administrative detention, which he believed should be authorised by judicial officers rather than a ministry secretary; and the power to proscribe organisations, which he said should rest with a judicial authority.
However, he has said the committee members had reached agreement on other provisions, including limiting the detention period and allowing a Magistrate to grant bail where there was no material against a suspect.
Peiris has said his examination of the Bill now before Parliament revealed “major deviations” from those agreed provisions, particularly concerning bail and the procedure for extending detention.
“The Committee was never made aware of these changes or of the reasons for the changes,” he has said, adding that members had also not been informed who or what had caused the changes to be introduced without consultation.
Peiris has said he had written to the Chairman of the committee yesterday, setting out the areas in which the Bill had departed from the committee’s report.
The committee included representatives of the Attorney General’s Department, the Ministry of Justice, the police and armed forces, as well as several President’s Counsel, Attorneys-at-Law and a Member of Parliament.
Peiris has warned that if the Bill is passed in its current form, prolonged detention could continue under the new law, while Magistrates could be compelled to remand suspects brought before them under the PST Act even where there is no material against them.
He has cautioned that this could recreate the conditions that enabled abuses under the PTA.
“The abuse of the PSTA by politicians in power and by the police and security authorities similar to what happened under the PTA will be inevitable,” Peiris has said.
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