After the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka last month, state of emergency was declared, in order to give the government and the authorities greater authority in the pursuit of those behind the attacks. Swedish Radio reports:

This means, among other things, that the authorities can pick up people for questioning and keep them detained without specific accusations for a long time.

This is something that worries human rights activist Ruki Fernando, who for many years has mapped human rights violations in the country. He believes that the government will now take advantage of the situation and try to introduce new tough laws that will reduce citizens’ rights.

Every government in Sri Lanka has an interest in introducing laws that keep the population at bay, says human rights activist Ruki Fernando. The laws that the president now wants to impose are laws that give the authorities greater authority to control the lives of citizens and indicate the path the government will take after the attacks and the forthcoming presidential elections.

Read more on Swedish Radio (news in Swedish) and on Ruki Fernando’s blog. Now, curfew has been imposed in part of Sri Lanka and social media has been blocked, according to Swedish Television (news in Swedish).