News
New anti-terrorism bill ready; tough penalties and hefty fines for offences
View(s):By S. Rubatheesan
Under the proposed Terrorism Act, those who commit an act of terrorism will be handed hefty penalties ranging from a twenty-year jail term with fines to life imprisonment after a High Court trial.
The new law titled “Protection of the State from Terrorism Act, No. of 2026″ has been published by the Ministry of Justice and National Integration and will replace the current Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
The proposed bill also defines an offence of terrorism as “any person who, intentionally or knowingly, commits any act that will result in either provoking a state of terror; intimidating the public or any section of the public; compelling the Government of Sri Lanka, or any other government, or an international organisation, to do, or to abstain from doing, any act; or propagating war, or violating territorial integrity, or infringing the sovereignty of Sri Lanka or any other sovereign country, commits the offence of terrorism.”
Those who are found guilty of being associated with a terrorist organisation, or encouraging or disseminating terrorist publications, or providing training will be handed a fifteen-year jail term with a fine of fifteen million rupees.
Military personnel are also vested with powers to ‘stop and search’ individuals under reasonable suspicion and take custody of materials from the possession of suspects, the 64-page-long bill reads.
Once a suspect is taken into custody, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) are to be informed of such arrests within 24 hours.
The law also enables the IGP or a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) to secure a Detention Order for two months from the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence. The DO can be renewed up to a year since the arrest, according to the bill.
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