The Citizens of the Aragalaya Organization submitted a letter to the office of the United Nations in Thummulla today requesting to observe the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The group also engaged in a silent protest demanding the release of the people arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The group submitted the letter to the office of the United Nations after the protest, demanding intervention with regard to the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Sri Lanka’s new government came under international censure over the use of tough anti-terror laws to detain protesters who forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down from the presidency last month.
Three student activists arrested during the first anti-government rally after the end of a state of emergency were being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), including student leader Wasantha Mudalige.
The PTA allows suspects to be detained for 90 days without judicial review.
An unprecedented economic collapse sparked often huge anti-government rallies in Sri Lanka this year, after the country ran out of foreign currency to finance imports, leaving its 22 million people enduring chronic shortages of essential goods, rolling blackouts and spiralling inflation.
The government imposed a state of emergency that gave security forces sweeping detention powers, but the ordinance lapsed last week.
Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in mid-April and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a possible bailout.