'They have responded to terror threats in the past in a way that has not been rights-respecting,' one human rights expert said of security forces.
Security personnel stand guard Tuesday in front of St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, two days after a series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka.
The country’s civil war ended in 2009, but human rights groups say a controversial anti-terrorism law enacted in the 1970s is still in effect, allowing security forces to detain suspects without warrants and keep them behind bars for up to 18 months without their having to appear in court. That law was used throughout the country’s conflict, and the emergency powers put in place this week offer security forces even more sweeping ability to detain suspects without court orders.
U.N. officials have also raised concerns over the treatment of Sri Lankan detainees. In 2016, Juan Mendez, then-U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said that in Sri Lanka, fewer cases of torture are reported now than were during the civil war, but that “the practice of interrogation under physical and mental coercion still exists and severe forms of torture …. continue to be used.”
But in the aftermath of such attacks, “minorities tend to bear most of the brunt,” she said. In Sri Lanka, a majority-Buddhist country, “there was already a growing sentiment against Muslims,” Ruwanpathirana noted, raising further concern that the nature of the attacks and the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility could fuel existing religious tensions. And for detainees in Sri Lanka, “torture is rife,” she said.
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