Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Sri Lankan counterpart on the detention of Tamil political prisoners in Sri Lanka.

Mr Hugo Swire

We regularly raise matters of concern with the Sri Lankan government, including the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the detention of Tamil political prisoners without trial. I met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, the Honourable Mangala Samaraweera MP, on 14 September in Geneva. I was encouraged by our discussion and by his speech to the UN Human Rights Council. He told members of the UN Human Rights Council that the Sri Lankan government would review and repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act and replace it with anti-terrorism legislation in line with contemporary international best practices. I have also been encouraged by the recent announcements that bail has been granted to 39 prisoners being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.