Police cites UN resolution as relevant for detention of activists under PTA

Friday, 26 August 2022 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Sri Lanka Police has cited the UN Security Council Resolution 1566 of October 2004 as relevant in the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to investigate Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) Convener Wasantha Mudalige and two others.

After being arrested over a protest in Colombo last week, President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Defence has approved the order to detain for 90 days and interrogate Wasantha Mudalige, Inter-University Bhikku Federation Convener Galwewa Siridhamma Thera and Kelaniya University Students’ Union activist Hashantha Gunathilake, under the PTA.

The Police said the Criminal Investigation Department, as directed by the Inspector General of Police has undertaken further investigations to proceed under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) Act No. 12 of 2022 and currently all three suspects are held at the Tangalle old prison complex.

The Police highlighted the relevancy of the definition made by the United Nations Security Council in its resolution 1566 of October 2004 to these investigations.

This definition elaborates that the terrorists’ acts are ‘criminal acts including against civilians, committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a Government or an international organisation to do or to abstain from doing any act’.