Arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department and remanded for over five months under the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights Act [ICCPR] due to a Facebook post made to engage in an ideological war to defeat the accusations and slanders against the Muslim community during the Covid pandemic. The Supreme Court has ruled that the fundamental human rights of an Islamic social activist, Ramsi Raziq, have been violated. Sri Lanka Latest News
The decision further states that within one month from the date of issue of this decision, the Attorney General should inform the police officers about the important principles contained in this decision and take measures to strictly implement them.
What does the Supreme Court ruling say?
By arresting and detaining the petitioner, his basic human rights have been violated and according to that, the Computer Crime Investigation Division Station Officer B. M. S.K. It is stated in the order that Senaratne shall pay an amount of Rs.30000/- to the petitioner from his personal money and shall complete the payment of the said compensation within a period of one month from the date of issue of this judgment.
In addition, the then director of the Criminal Investigation Department, W. Thilakaratne was also ordered to pay Rs.30000/- from his personal money to the petitioner.
Apart from this, the compensation that the court ordered the government to pay to the petitioner is one million rupees.
The Supreme Court said this while hearing a fundamental rights petition filed by his lawyer while the social activist was in remand.
Supreme Court Justice Yasanta Kodagoda announced this verdict with the concurrence of Justices Janak de Silva and Bhuvaneka Aluvihare.
“The petitioner is a Muslim and he has made a Facebook post regarding the allegations that Muslims are spreading the disease during the Covid epidemic. The petitioner posted a Facebook post on April 2, 2020, stating in his Facebook post that Muslims should launch an ideological struggle in the face of insults and accusations against Muslims during the COVID-19 epidemic. Thereafter, the Criminal Investigation Department arrested the petitioner on April 9, 2020, accusing him of inciting religious hatred and creating religious discord. After that, he was produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court and remanded in custody.” According to the judgment, the petitioner was remanded for a period of five months and one week.
In relation to this petition, the Criminal Investigation Department’s Computer Crime Investigation Division OIC B. M. S. K. Senaratne’s objections state:
“According to information received from the Ministry of Defense regarding a Facebook post posted by this suspect, investigations were carried out. The questionable Facebook post posted by the petitioner has been shared by 75 people. Another 495 people have posted their views and opinions in that regard. Through this, the petitioner has acted to create religious unrest when there is religious hatred,” said the Chief Inspector of Police, who had filed his objections before the Supreme Court, according to Article 120 of the Penal Code, Article 3(1) of the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights Act and the Computer Crime Act. It has also been mentioned that the petitioner was arrested under the provisions of the law.
The position of the court…
“Speech and expression have been recognized as a basic human right under Article 14(1)a of the Constitution of this country. Nowadays digital platforms are also used by individuals and organizations to enjoy that right. Digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber etc. can be mentioned as examples. These digital spaces are widely used for expression and posting. Because of this, freedom of expression has undergone a drastic revolution in digital spaces. The police mentioned that the petitioner had made a call for an armed struggle during that incident. But that is unacceptable.”
“The petitioner has stated in his Facebook post that the ideologies against Islam should be defeated. He states that pen and computer keyboard should be used for that. According to this, it appears that the arrest has been made by misinterpreting Section 3(1) of the Convention on Civil and Political Rights,” said the judgment announced by Judge Yasanta Kodagoda.
Judge Yasanta Kodagoda, who commented on the action of the police, said, “The court’s attention was drawn to the “B” report submitted by the police to the magistrate regarding this petitioner. The police have acted to mislead the magistrate through its contents. The Criminal Investigation Department is an institution with a good organizational structure. There is also scope for the officers of that institution to seek advice directly from the Attorney General. The respondent police station officer has not mentioned that he took proper legal advice before arresting the petitioner. Also, this officer has not proceeded to submit a formal report regarding this suspect to the magistrate under section 115(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code. Accordingly, the judge concluded that he is primarily responsible for this arrest.”
The judge emphasized that law enforcement officers should have the freedom to perform their duties independently and impartially.
Also, the judge has mentioned in his decision that police officers should have an environment where they can exercise their discretionary powers without pressure.
Acquitted after three years
At a time when public attention is focused on the Bill on Online Protection, social media user Ramzi Raziq, who was charged under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights No. 56 of 2007 (ICCPR) for a comment he made on social media, was acquitted in the absence of any evidence. On September 21, the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court ordered to release him from the case.
After the Attorney General informed the court that he has no objection to closing the case as there is no evidence against him, this has been done.
He was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department in April 2020 due to a comment posted on social media.
Ramzi Raziq spoke to BBC Sinhala service about the incident.
“The time I was arrested was a time when racism was at its peak. As soon as the presidential election was over, there was a big threat, especially to the Muslim community, from things like racist organizations. At this time, these people have taken various false propaganda about the Muslim people from social media and other media,” he says.
“In early 2020, I saw a post with the spread of Corona. There was a false idea that the Muslim community was deliberately spreading the corona virus among the Sinhalese people. “Based on that, I posted on my social media account that Muslims should wage an ideological struggle against these,” Ramsey explained about the comments that led to his arrest.
“In that comment, I wrote that Muslims should wage an ‘Ideological Jihad’ or ‘Ideological Jihad’ against these things. The responses to it were very bad. “Many people misunderstood that I was inciting Muslims to war or conflict,” he explains.
“I am being arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department based on the word ‘Jihad’. There, I was beaten by those two officers. Later I was remanded in custody because I was charged under the ICCPR Act.”
He said that he could not present the incident of assault to the court at that time because he could not meet his lawyer or his family due to the Corona rules.
Also, he explained to BBC Sinhala that he was not physically abused in Colombo remand prison but had to face some mental abuse.
“I could not get proper treatment for my ailments. Also, due to an accident in the prison, I broke a bone in my arm. I could not get proper treatment for that either. So I still have a disability in my hand,” he says.
His acquittal on September 21 was a free speech decision, he says.
“Due to this false accusation, I and my family were in a lot of trouble. They were afraid that there would be some trouble for the family. My children are still in school. This also greatly affected their education. Even though the Criminal Investigation Department dragged this case for three years, they could not present any evidence against me.”
Ramzi Razik says that he will continue to raise his voice against such false and incorrect propaganda.
“As a social media activist, I raised my voice against these false racist statements. I continue to do that. Another bill regarding social media is going to be brought. It was at such a time that I received such a decision.”
