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Espionage, several new offences in new Counter Terrorism Act
View(s):The Government’s draft proposal for a law to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act has introduced several new types of offences under the definition of terrorism–including espionage.
The ‘Policy and legal framework of the proposed Counter Terrorism Act of Sri Lanka’ was referred by Cabinet this week to the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security. The group is made up of 20 MPs from various parties. Terrorism is now defined in the draft as threatening, attacking, changing or adversely affecting the unity, territorial integrity, security or sovereignty of Sri Lanka, or that of any other sovereign nation.
It includes illegally or unlawfully compelling the Sri Lankan Government or that of any other sovereign nation “to reverse, vary or change a policy decision or to do or abstain from doing any act relating to the defence, national security, territorial integrity, sovereignty of Sri Lanka or any other sovereign nation (as the case may be), and the protection of the people of Sri Lanka or the people of any other sovereign nation (as the case may be)”.
It would also be terrorism to illegally cause “a change of the Government of Sri Lanka or of any other sovereign nation” and to commit “any act of violent extremism towards achieving ideological domination”.
There is a long list of offences under the ambit of terrorism. There is another compilation of “terrorism related offences” that runs into four pages, “associated offences” and “other offences”. It is within the last category that “espionage” has been included.
This applies to any person who voluntarily engages in “any illegal, unlawful or unauthorised act for the purpose of gathering any ‘confidential’ information’, for the purpose of supplying such information to a person who is conspiring, preparing, abetting, or attempting to commit terrorism or any terrorism-related offence or any other offence contained in this Act”. The penalty is seven years imprisonment and a fine.
It applies, too, to any person who voluntarily and illegally or unlawfully or in an unauthorised manner “gathers confidential information, for the purpose of supplying such information to a person who is conspiring, preparing, abetting, or attempting to commit terrorism or any terrorism related offence or any other offence in this Act”. The penalty is ten years’ jail and a fine.
A third category is any person who provides to another person any confidential information “knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe that such information will be used by such other person to conspire, abet, attempt or commit terrorism or terrorism related offence or any other offence contained in this Act”. The penalty is ten years’ jail and a fine.
A final category is any person who provides any ‘gratification’, inducement, threat, force or any other form of influence to any other person for the purpose of encouraging, compelling or enticing such other purpose to commit an offence, etc. The penalty is ten years’s jail and a fine.
The policy denies a suspect the right of access to an attorney before his or her first statement is recorded by police. Access is only permitted following the recording of the first statement or the expiry of 48 hours from the time of his or her arrest, whichever occurs first.
Under admissibility of evidence is a statement made by any person to a Magistrate in terms of the provisions of the act, if the making of such statement is held by the High Court to be made in compliance with section 24 of the Evidence Ordinance; and confessional statement made to a police officer.
“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Evidence Ordinance, a statement made by any persons to a police officer holding a rank not below a Superintendent of Police either by himself or in response to questions put, shall be admissible against such person (accused), at a trial against such person for having committed an offence contained in this Act and any other offence that may have been committed in the course of the same transaction,” the policy states.
“It shall be the burden of the prosecution to establish to the satisfaction of court that such statement was made voluntarily,” it holds.
“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Evidence Ordinance, a statement voluntarily made by an accused in the Evidence Ordinance, a statement voluntarily made by an accused to a police officer not below the rank of a Superintendent of Police, shall be admissible against a co-accused, if the contents of such statement is corroborated in material particulars.”
The policy allows for a Specialised Counter Terrorism Division to be set up by the Inspector General of Police. It shall be the primary institution of the Sri Lanka Police, tasked with the responsibility of preventing and countering terrorism, and investigating the committing of offences contained in this Act.