The draconian Online Safety Act

Two weeks ago, Sri Lanka’s draconian law to regulate online content became law, and the fears that were expressed at the time of its implementation have already come into fruition. A few days ago, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles claimed that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had arrested the first person under this Act.

According to the minister, the suspect had “maliciously” carried out a smear campaign with the support of a politician. “He was slandering us through social media. He had about Rs. 400,000 at the time of the arrest. This is why we have brought the Online Safety Act. These campaigns can even be used to change governments,” according to the minister.

However the Police refuted reports that the CID has arrested a suspect who allegedly slandered politicians on social media platforms under the newly enacted OSA. It was stated that for any arrest to be made under OSA, the Commission must be set up first. Minister Alles didn’t retract his statement.

If to go by the Minister’s  original narrative, Alles can be an easy target for those who are disturbed by the recent developments and the severe turn for the worse the human rights situation in the country has taken. He is an indicted financier of terrorism, accused of transferring millions of rupees to the LTTE to distort the results of the 2005 Presidential election. He is further cited in the recently published Pandora papers as having millions of assets in shell companies abroad. When such an individual claims that the international community, the United Nations and rights organisations do not have a role in Sri Lanka’s affairs as he carries out a ‘war on drugs’ along with his handpicked Inspector General of Police found guilty of torture by the Supreme Court, it is easy to make Alles the villain in this story.

Yet the responsibility of the Online Safety Act and all other draconian laws and actions currently carried out that violate the fundamental freedoms of the citizens is the responsibility of the President. It is the President who sets the agenda for his Government and decides on the laws and policies that are implemented. It is therefore the President who must be ultimately held accountable for these draconian, anti-democratic actions that are decimating the free space and rights of people.

The purported objectives of the Online Safety Act was to protect persons against damage caused by communication of false statements or threatening, alarming or distressing statements, ensure protection from communication of statements in contempt of court or prejudicial to the maintenance of authority and impartiality of the judiciary and introduce measures to detect, prevent and safeguard against the misuses of online accounts and bots to commit offences under this Act; and to prevent the financing, promotion and other support of online locations which repeatedly communicate false statements of fact in Sri Lanka.

Yet as the recent announcement from Minister Tiran Alles demonstrates it is but a tool to use against any one with dissenting views. It is rich in irony that a man accused of financing a terrorist group is today deciding whom to arrest based on views expressed online which could, in his own words, be “campaigns that can even be used to change governments.”

The man who paid the LTTE hundreds of millions of rupees to distort the will of the people and change the outcome of the 2005 Presidential election is today arbitrarily deciding on arrests for opinions expressed online. All these are enabled by the President who has appointed Alles as the minister in charge of the police and empowered him to bulldoze the liberties of the people. The President then must take ownership of this miserable state of affairs and let history remember his name, rather than that of Alles, for this draconian law shoved down the throat of the people of this land.