
Lawyers, Human Rights Defenders and Journalists Arrested,
Threatened, Intimidated
29
July 2020: The Sri Lankan government should end the targeted arrests,
intimidation and threats against the lives and physical security of lawyers,
activists, human rights defenders and journalists, 10 international human
rights organizations said today. A campaign of fear has intensified since the
2019 presidential election, and has cast a shadow over the 2020 parliamentary
election campaign.
The
United Nations, as well Sri Lanka’s partners and foreign donors, should
immediately call for full respect, protection and fulfillment of the human
rights of all Sri Lankans, and particularly to halt the reversal of fragile
gains in the protection of human rights in recent years.
Numerous civilian institutions, including the NGO Secretariat, have been placed under the control of the Defence Ministry. Serving and retired military officers have been appointed to a slew of senior government roles previously held by civilians. The authorities have recently established military-led bodies such as the Presidential Task Force to build “a secure country, disciplined, virtuous and lawful society,” which has the power to issue directives to any government official. This represents an alarming trend towards the militarization of the state. Many of those in government, including the president, defense secretary, and army chief, are accused of war crimes during the internal armed conflict that ended in 2009.
Dissident voices and critics of the current government, including lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and victims of past abuses, are being targeted by the police, intelligence agencies and pro-government media.
Since the presidential election in November 2019, anti-human rights rhetoric intended to restrict the space for civil society has been amplified by senior members of government. On 6 July 2020, at an election rally, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stated that “NGOs will be taken into a special attention under the new government formed after the General Election, specifically, how foreign monies and grants are received to the NGOs from foreign countries and further, activities of the international organisations will be observed.” The government has also announced a probe into NGOs registered under the previous government.
In
the months following the November 2019 presidential election, a number of
organizations reported
visits from intelligence officers who sought details of
staff, programs
and funding, in particular, organizations in the war-affected
Northern and Eastern provinces of the country. Such visits are blatant attempts
to harass and intimidate Sri Lankan civil society.
In
February, the acting District Secretary in the Mullaitivu District (Northern
Province) issued a directive that only non-governmental organizations with at
least 70 percent of their activities focused on development would be allowed to
work, effectively enabling arbitrary interference with and prevention of a
broad range of human rights work. A Jaffna-based think-tank was visited several
times, including soon after the Covid-19 lockdown, and questioned about its
work, funding and staff details.
Lawyers
taking on human rights cases have been targeted through legal and
administrative processes and have faced smear campaigns in the media. Kumaravadivel
Guruparan, a human rights lawyer, was a senior lecturer at the
Faculty of Law at the University of Jaffna. He appeared as counsel on behalf of
victims in the case of 24 Tamil youth who were subjected to enforced
disappearance while in military custody at Navatkuli in 1996. In November 2019,
Guruparan was banned by the University Grants Commission (UGC) from teaching
law while also practicing in court. The ban was following a letter sent by the
Sri Lankan army to the UGC questioning why Guruparan was permitted to engage in
legal practice while being a member of the faculty. Guruparan resigned from the
University on 16 July 2020.
On 14
April, Hejaaz
Hizbullah, a lawyer who has represented victims of human rights
violations, was arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
He is being held illegally without charge and without being produced before a
magistrate for over 90 days.[1]
He has had limited access to his lawyers and family members. The day before his
arrest, Hizbullah joined others in submitting a letter addressed to President
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa criticising the denial of burial rights to the Muslim
community under Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 regulations.
Achala
Senevirathne, a lawyer who represents families in a case involving the enforced
disappearance of 11 youth in 2008, in which senior military commanders are
implicated, has been attacked on social media, including with threats of
physical violence and sexualized abuse. The police have failed to act on her
complaints of threats to her safety.
On 10
June, Swastika Arulingam, a lawyer, was arrested when she inquired about the arrests of people conducting a
peaceful Black Lives Matter solidarity protest. Other lawyers, not named
here for reasons of security, have also been visited at their homes by security
officials, or called in for lengthy interrogations linked to their human rights
work.
Journalists
and those voicing critical opinions on social media, have been arbitrarily
arrested. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed alarm at
the clampdown on freedom
of expression, including the 1 April announcement by the police
that any person criticizing officials engaged in the response to Covid-19 would
be arrested. It is unclear whether there is any legal basis for such arrests.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has cautioned
against “an increasing number of such arrests since the issuing of a letter
dated 1 April 2020”.
Media
rights groups have condemned the targeting of journalists since the
presidential election, with threats of arrest, surveillance, and lengthy police
interrogations linked to their reporting. Dharisha
Bastians, former editor of the Sunday Observer
newspaper and a contributor to the New York Times, her family, and
associates, have been persecuted by Sri Lankan police in retaliation for her
work. Since December 2019, authorities have attempted to link Bastians to the
disputed abduction of a Swiss Embassy employee in Colombo. The government
claims the alleged abduction was fabricated to discredit the government. Since
Bastians had reported on the incident as a journalist, the police have obtained
and published her phone records, searched her house, and seized her laptop
computer.
On 9 April,
a social media commentator Ramzy Razeek was
arrested under Sri Lanka’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) Act and the Computer Crimes Act. He approached the Sri Lankan police
for protection following online death threats linked to his social media posts
condemning all forms of extremism. Instead of receiving protection, he was
jailed and denied bail. His hearing has been
postponed, despite his failing health and the heightened risk posed by the
pandemic in prisons.
The targeting and repression of journalists and human rights defenders
is not only an assault on the rights of these individuals, but an attack on the
principles of human rights and the rule of law which should protect all Sri
Lankans. These policies have a chilling effect on the rights to freedom of
expression and association, which are crucial for the operation of civil
society and fundamental to the advancement of human rights. Those working on
ending impunity and ensuring accountability for past crimes, and especially
victims, victim’s families, members of minority communities, and networks in
the Northern and Eastern provinces, are particularly at risk of intimidation
and harassment.
The Sri Lankan authorities must end all forms of harassment, threats and abuse of legal processes and police powers against lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists. Ramzy Razeek and Hejaak Hizbullah must be released immediately. Human rights defenders living and working in Sri Lanka should be able to carry out their peaceful human rights work without fear of reprisals, which requires a safe and enabling environment in which they can organize, assemble, receive and share information.
While
the government of Sri Lanka continues to deny Sri Lankans the ability to
promote and defend human rights, particularly targeting members of civil
society, we call upon the international community, including states and the United
Nations, to demand that Sri Lanka live up to its international human rights
obligations.
Sri
Lankan human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists need to be protected
now.
Signed by
Amnesty International
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
FIDH, in the framework of the Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
(FORUM-ASIA)
Front Line Defenders
Human Rights Watch
International Commission of Jurists
International Service for Human Rights
Reporters Without Borders
South Asians for Human Rights
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the
framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
For
Further Information Please Contact:
Amnesty International: Nicholas Bequelin – Regional
Director – Asia-Pacific - nicolas.bequelin@amnesty.org
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation: Josef Benedict, Asia Pacific Researcher -
josef.benedict@civicus.org
FIDH: Eva Canan, Press
Officer - ecanan@fidh.org
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA):
– Melissa Ananthraj, Communication and Media Programme Manager -
communication@forum-asia.org
Front Line Defenders: Adam Shapiro, Head of
Communications & Visibility – adam@frontlinedefenders.org
Human Rights Watch: Meenakshi Ganguly – South Asia
Director - Meenakshi Ganguly gangulm@hrw.org
International Commission of Jurists: Osama Motiwala, Communications Officer -
osama.motiwala@icj.org
International Service for Human Rights: Pooja
Patel, Program Director - p.patel@ishr.ch
Reporters Without Borders: Daniel Bastard - Head of Asia-Pacific Desk - dbastard@rsf.org
South Asians for Human Rights: Anushaya Collure, Programme Coordinator - sahr@southasianrights.org
OMCT: Iolanda Jaquemet - Director of Communications - ij@omct.org
[1] The PTA allows for
pre-charge detention for 90 days through a ‘Detention Order’ renewable every 90
days for 18 months. The Detention Order has now lapsed.
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