Bishops ‘concerned about human rights of 2 detained professionals’

COLOMBO: The Anglican Church in Sri Lanka is drawing the attention of the authorities to the plight of two individuals who are incarcerated and deprived of their rights on World Human Rights day.

In a statement issued on Dec. 10, the bishops pointed to two cases which they see as emblematic.

The Bishops said they are “particularly concerned about the human rights of two distinguished professionals who have been unacceptably deprived of their freedom and dignity. Hejaaz Hisbullah, a leading young lawyer and alumnus of one of our leading church schools, was arrested on April 14, 2020 and is detained without charges or trial and no judicial supervision.”

“Shani Abeysekera, the former director CID, was arrested in August and detained at the Mahara prison. Despite him contracting COVID-19 and suffering a heart attack and other medical conditions, there is no compliance with the directives of the Human Rights Commission that he be transferred to a hospital for much-needed treatment. These two examples demonstrate that there are serious human rights concerns in the country.

“We request the authorities to address these concerns as a matter of urgency,” the statement said.

The Bishops’ statement added: “There are legitimate concerns that, following the adoption of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, there are inadequate safeguards to ensure the independence of the Judiciary and important independent public commissions such as the Human Rights Commission and the Elections Commission. We hope that these shortcomings will be addressed by the committee appointed to draft a new Constitution.”