{"id":235619,"date":"2024-02-03T12:23:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T06:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=235619"},"modified":"2024-02-11T17:58:50","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T12:28:50","slug":"letter-to-tiran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-tiran\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter To Tiran"},"content":{"rendered":"

To Mr. Tiran Alles<\/a><\/span> MP, Minister of Public Security,<\/p>\n

We are writing this letter to you as members of the Lawyers Collective<\/a><\/span>. We will send copies to the President and Prime\u00a0Minister, and will place the\u00a0letter in the public\u00a0domain. We are doing so because we consider the manner in which you are exercising your powers in the “Yukthiya” Anti Drug\u00a0 Campaign,\u00a0 a matter of grave public concern.<\/p>\n

\"\"Citizens of the country will endorse your decision to conduct a campaign\u00a0to address the drug\u00a0problem\u00a0and try to eliminate its adverse impact on their lives. It would have been best if the campaign had been\u00a0commenced when you took office, rather than in the election year 2024. In any event this campaign must conform to the Rule of Law. It cannot be a\u00a0passionate, personal,\u00a0initiative that you seek to implement\u00a0outside the law. The manner in which you are conducting this campaign and making public statements on the media indicates the following:<\/p>\n

1) that you will consider any laws that you think restrict\u00a0your authority as “obstacles” that you have every right to disregard.<\/p>\n

2) that you consider all who comment or criticise the manner in which the campaign is conducted to be drug dealers and drug addicts. You have chosen to target in particular, lawyers who do so. You have repeatedly referred to them in this manner, despite a statement from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka objecting to this\u00a0 vicious attack on the legal profession.<\/p>\n

3) You have also repeatedly stated on national TV networks that you will disregard any cautions on adhering to norms\u00a0and standards\u00a0of international law that apply to the State of Sri Lanka. You have stated that you will disregard them as “foreign and outside influences,” and that you are not bound to conduct the campaign with respect for international law and the views of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.<\/p>\n

4) You have also publicly stated\u00a0repeatedly\u00a0that you appointed Deshabandu Tennekoon as the Acting IGP because he was the best police\u00a0officer\u00a0to effectively conduct this Yukthiya Campaign.<\/p>\n

We wish to point out that each of these statements indicate that you have no regard for the oath of office you have taken to hold that high office of a Minister with a sense of responsibility, and as a public trust, according to the laws and Constitution of our country. The Supreme Court, the apex court of our country, has repeatedly emphasised that there is no principle of absolute discretion in the exercise of administrative powers. You are required to respect the rights of citizens to freedom of expression and dissent, and the right of lawyers to fulfill their professional responsibilities. Your statements are a violation of the fundamental rights of citizens. They also fail to recognise the right of lawyers to represent clients. They do so in conformity with professional responsibilities to the Court, (rather than to the Executive or a Minister), in the administration of justice.<\/p>\n

Your statements which amount to a rejection of international law show a surprising ignorance of the obligations of the State of Sri Lanka and its Government under ratified international human rights treaties. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is the nodal agency for facilitating the implementation of international law by States, at the national domestic level. Your disparaging remarks in this regard should be immediately restrained by the President on the advice of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is also a senior member of the legal profession, holding the title of Presidents Counsel.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0 wish to conclude by pointing out that you personally cannot have any role in the appointment\u00a0 of an IGP. This is a matter for the President and the Constitutional Council. Besides, the\u00a0 Supreme Court has, in a recent case, found Deshabandu Tennekoon personally responsible for acts of torture, and a failure to fulfill his command responsibility to prevent torture by his team of police officers. This conduct amounts to a grave violation of the fundamental rights of a victim, and also a grave criminal offence under the Torture Act\u00a0 of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

We have addressed the Attorney General on the need to prosecute Deshabandu Tennakoon<\/a><\/span> in conformity with our law. The inaction of the Police Commission in\u00a0 failing, up to now, to take disciplinary action in conformity with the Supreme Court judgment is a matter of public concern. Their silence on this matter is also a breach of public trust in fulfilling their responsibility to ensure high\u00a0 professional standards in the Police force of our country. Your own\u00a0 personal endorsement of Deshabandu Tennakoon continuing in his post as IGP, and expression of confidence in him, amounts to a total violation of the rule of law as explained by the Supreme Court of our country. We wish to remind that it is this court that exercises the “judicial power of the people” in a democracy,\u00a0 and no Minister of the Executive branch can act without respect for the powers of the Supreme Court in the important area of Administration of Justice.<\/p>\n

We conclude this\u00a0letter by requesting you to please understand the true meaning of “Yukthiya” as linked to the implementation of the Rule of Law\u00a0 as stated in the Constitution, the Torture Act and other laws, and the decisions of the courts of law. It is unfortunate that as a Minister in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka you are acting as if you were exercising\u00a0executive powers in a type of governance\u00a0known as a dictatorship. We trust that the President and your colleagues,\u00a0the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice (both senior lawyers and President’s Counsel) will restrain your abuse of powers and enable the anti-drug campaign to be conducted with respect for the rule of\u00a0law and the Supreme Court of the country.<\/p>\n

On behalf of the Lawyers\u2019 Collective<\/p>\n

Mr. Rienzie Arsecularatne, President\u2019s Counsel.
\nProfessor Savitri Goonesekere, Attorney-at-Law, Former Vice Chancellor of University of Colombo.
\nMr. Upul Jayasuriya, President\u2019s Counsel, Former President – BASL
\nDr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, President\u2019s Counsel
\nMr. Geoffrey Alagaratnam, President\u2019s Counsel, Former President – BASL
\nMr. Dinal Phillips, President\u2019s Counsel
\nMr. Saliya Pieris, President\u2019s Counsel, Former President \u2013 BASL
\nMr. S.T. Jayanaga, President\u2019s Counsel
\nMr. Upul Kumarapperuma, President\u2019s Counsel
\nProfessor Deepika Udagama, Former Chairperson – HRCSL
\nProfessor Camena Gunaratne
\nMr. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law
\nMr. Srinath Perera, Attorney-at-Law
\nMs. Ermiza Tegal, Attorney-at-Law
\nMr. Manoj Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":235626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2186,46,8,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nLetter To Tiran - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-tiran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter To Tiran - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-tiran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-03T06:53:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-11T12:28:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tiran-Alles-MP-Minister-of-Public-Security.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"511\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-tiran\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/letter-to-tiran\/\",\"name\":\"Letter To Tiran - 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