Sri Lanka: arrested defenders face further judicial harassment (Update)
Event- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Aug 22, 2022
- Event Description
The Defence Ministry has issued Detention Orders on IUSF convenor Wasantha Mudalige and two others to be detained for 90 days and questioned, Police Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa said.
The police arrested Wasantha Mudalige, Hashan Jeevantha Gunathilake and Galwewa Siridhamma Thero on August 19 during a protest in Colombo. Later they were detained for questioning for 72 hours under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Earlier, police said that investigation and further questioning of three suspects will be handed over to Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on instructions of the IGP.
The IGP has also directed the CID to hand over the investigations to the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) if they were found to have engaged in any terrorist activities.
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor on Sunday has requested President Ranil Wickremesinghe not to sign detention order on them.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 6.937719671207863
Longitude: 79.85253839053276
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 22 August 2022, Wasantha Mudalige, Hashan Jeevantha Gunathilake and Galwewa Siridhamma Thero, pro-democracy defenders arrested days earlier for their role in the ongoing protests, were remanded to 90-day detention by the Defence Ministry in Colombo, Sri Lanka.