13 human right organizations jointly on May 16 called on the Sri Lankan Government to immediately release Ahnaf Jazeem, who had been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) so that he has an opportunity to prove his innocence as part of a fair trial, reports Colombo Page. In a joint statement, the 13 human right organizations including the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called for the immediate repeal of the deeply flawed PTA, which has facilitated human rights violations especially of Sri Lankan minorities. According to the statement, Ahnaf Jazeem alias Mannaramuthu Ahnaf is a 26-year-old poet and teacher who was arrested on May 16, 2020, under Sri Lanka’s draconian PTA. Ahnaf is detained by order of the Terrorism Investigations Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police, under sections of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of 1979 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act No. 56 of 2007. If found guilty, Ahnaf could be imprisoned for up to 20 years under the PTA or up to 10 years under the ICCPR Act; he is currently being held indefinitely in detention without trial and with only limited access to representation.