Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Tuesday approved amendments to the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) after almost 43 years since it was enacted.
The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) Bill was passed by a majority vote in the Parliament today.
During the Second Reading of the Bill, Members of Parliament MA Sumanthiran and Anura Kumara Dissanayake called for a vote.
Accordingly, 86 votes were cast in favor of the motion and 35 votes were cast against it in the second reading and the second reading of the Bill was passed by a majority of 51 votes in the 225-member parliament.
The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the main Tamil party Tamil National Alliance and the Marxist party National people’s Power (NPP) voted against the amendments.
Thereafter at the Committee Stage the Bill was passed with several amendments and passed without a vote for the third reading.
The Cabinet granted approval on 24 January, 2022 to gazette the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) Bill containing the proposed amendments and thereafter to table the bill in Parliament for approval.
The Amendments include, reduction of the period of detention, Magistrate expressly empowered to visit places of detention of the suspects in the detention to address and eliminate allegations of torture, express recognition of Judicial review of acts under the PTA, Attorneys-at – Law to have access to a person in remand or in detention and right of the person so remanded or detained to communicate with his relatives, repeal of provisions regarding prohibition of publications, conduct of trials on a day to day basis for offences under the PTA, to ensure the expeditions disposal of cases and the introduction of a new Section 15B to make provision to grant bail to persons in remand or in detention under the PTA.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) notwithstanding the amendments suggested by the government advocated the complete abolition of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.