Contempt of court in Sri Lanka

The Sunday Times reported that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has decided to intervene in the contempt of court case filed by seven senior lawyers against Minister Rishad Bathuideen over the threats he is alleged to have made to the Mannar magistrate. Earlier these seven lawyers, Geoffrey Alagaratnam PC, Sunil Cooray, Lal Wijeyanayake, […]

On the 25th August, the Supreme Court discharged the editor of the Lanka Irida newspaper, Chandana Sirimalwatte from charges of contempt of court. Earlier he had been given notice of the issue of a rule against him for a publication. However, the court did not issue this rule and instead discharged him of the charge. […]

In times of serious repression such as the situation that Sri Lanka is faced with now, the courts are the citizen’s last resort. If the citizens are intimidated from seeking redress from the courts the people lose even that last resort. Therefore, protecting the people rights to have access to court is of great importance. […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission has launched an online petition calling on the Sri Lankan Government to speedily enact a law on contempt of court.  (Hong Kong, July 29, 2010) The absence of a law relating to contempt to court has remained a matter of concern in Sri Lanka. Due to serious anxieties arising from […]

On two occasions the United Nations Human Rights Committee has viewed that the GoSL has abused contempt of court laws The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations has found that the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has abused its contempt of court powers in the case of Anthony Michael Emmanuel Fernando (CCPR/C/83/D/1189/2003—29th April, 2005). […]

In an attempt to fill Sri Lanka’s legal lacuna, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has adopted a draft Contempt of Court Act to be submitted to the government this month, March 2005. The draft broadly incorporates principles embodied in the United Kingdom Contempt of Court Act (1981) and the Indian Contempt of Court Act […]

In a landmark judgment, the U.N. Human Rights Committee has held that Sri Lanka, as a state party to the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, violated one of its citizen’s rights by arbitrarily detaining him for one year because of alleged contempt of court. The Committee, in its decision […]

It emerged over the weekend that there had been some kind of deal to keep a former Sri Lankan government minister out of jail on contempt of court charges, but it fell through. Reaction to the jailing of S B Dissanayake for two years on December 7 concentrated on the fact that this deal had […]

SRI LANKA: Update on Michael Anthony Fernando (Tony) ———————————————————————- Dear friends The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is very happy to inform you that Michael Anthony Fernando (Tony), a trade unionist as well as human rights activist, was freed on 17 October 2003 after being declared as a winner of the inaugural Human Rights Defenders […]

Dear Friends Update on Tony Fernando’s case: Select Committee of Parliament- on Contempt of Court Law We are pleased to be able to give you some good news surrounding the case of Mr Michael Anthony Emmanuel Fernando (‘Tony’). A Select Committee has been appointed to inquire into, and report on, the law relating to Contempt […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has carefully studied the complaint of torture made by Anthony Michael Emmanuel Fernando on 16 February 2003 and the previous contempt of court case against him. We reproduce below the full judgement (Ref: S.C.(F/F) No. 55/2003 or 6 February 2003) of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on the […]