Ten human rights groups including the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International issued a statement on July 28 calling for the release of Lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah and several other currently detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), reports Ada Derana. The organizations state that in the absence of any credible evidence presented before a court of law, Hizbullah should be released immediately and unconditionally.
“Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested on April 14, 2020 under the PTA. He was accused by the police of aiding and abetting Inshaf Ahamed (who was involved in the April 21, 2019 bombings), an accusation that has since been withdrawn...The latest allegation on which an indictment was filed against Hejaaz Hizbullah in the High Court on February 18, 2021, is a speech-related offence of “causing communal disharmony,” one of a number of overly broad offences provided under the PTA. The indictment is based on a statement to the Criminal Investigation Department of the police made by a child regarding a speech allegedly made by Hizbullah in Puttalam. Other children who were questioned at the same time by the same officers filed fundamental rights cases claiming they were coerced by police officers to falsely implicate Hejaaz Hizbullah. Combined with the repeated changes in the allegations, this leads us to believe the allegations against him are unsupported by any credible evidence” the statement reads.