Sri Lanka urged to free student activist held over protests

For months, opposition lawmakers, rights and student activists have been demanding the release of Mudalige and an end to the government crackdown on demonstrations linked to the economic crisis.The rights groups also urged the government to repeal the anti-terror law, which allows for up to a year of detention without charge on the orders of the defence minister, a position currently held by Wickremesinghe.

In March, the government introduced some reforms to the anti-terror law. However, opposition and rights groups called them cosmetic and said the law still allows the detention of suspects without warrants and the use of confessions obtained through torture. They say the law, introduced during the country’s civil war in 1979, has been widely abused, causing a large number of innocent people to spend years in prison without trial.

Wickremesinghe was elected by Parliament to complete Rajapaksa’s term, which ends in 2024. He is unpopular because he is supported by lawmakers who are still backed by the Rajapaksa family, which ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades. Many accuse Wickremesinghe of protecting the Rajapaksas, who are widely blamed for corruption and misrule that led to the crisis.and has suspended repayment of nearly US$7 billion in foreign debt due this year pending the outcome of talks with the IMF.

Source: Education Headlines (educationheadlines.net)

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