Sri Lanka’s new Anti-Terrorism Bill is a familiar cage with a new name

Report Summary

When the National People’s Power (NPP) government swept into office in 2024, it carried a mandate that many Sri Lankans had waited decades to see fulfilled: the abolition of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), a law that had haunted the island’s political landscape since 1979. The government’s manifesto promised to dismantle all oppressive legislation, and for a brief moment, it seemed the long era of executive detention and warrantless arrest