Muslim rage over a sticker

A young street-vendor Muhammad Rushdi’s sticker expressing his anti-Israel sentiment over what is happening in Gaza since October 2023 has provided the rationale for an incompetent Police department to arrest this youngster under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), originally introduced as a temporary measure in 1979 but made permanent in 1982 by the then President J.R. Jayewardene.

- By Dr. Ameer Ali

The Muslim community has not forgotten that it was under that same Act an innocent young Muslim teacher and poet, Ahnaf Jaseem, was arrested in May 2020 and his case caught international attention through Amnesty International before he was released on bail in December 2021. Amnesty International has again raised its concern over Rushdi’s arrest and he too has now been released on bail.

President Anura Kumara Disanayake promised during his election campaign that he would remove this despotic piece of legislation, but it is still there in the statute book providing a ready-to-use weapon to arrest and incarcerate anyone for any action which the police would consider as relating to terrorism, a term that still lacks a universally accepted legal definition. Thus, pasting an anti-Israel sticker according to the police appears to be an act probably leading towards committing a terror act.