Gehan Gunathilaka, the Research Director of the Colombo-based think tank, Verité Research, in a tweet has pinpointed the hypocrisy of former Minister of Justice Prof G.L. Peiris with regard to the on going debate on International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill.
Read s. 8 #EnforcedDisappearance Bill & s.7(2) of 1994 #Torture Act side by side. Identical provisions. GL Peiris was Justice Minister in 94 pic.twitter.com/GVhPAW7bKf
— Gehan Gunatilleke (@GehanDG) September 18, 2017
Prof Peiris, now a staunch supporter of Sinhala nationalist Rajapaksa has been campaigning against the bill arguing that it will provide ICC to try Sri Lanka citizens charged over disappearances.
This is what he says in the above interview with Daily Mirror:
As a fact that quotation given by Peiris is right:
Here is what the section 8 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill says:
“Where a request is made to the Government of Sri Lanka, by or on behalf of the Government of a Convention State for the extradition of any person accused or convicted of an offence under sections 3 or 4, the Minister shall, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, forthwith notify the Government of the requesting State of the measures which the Government of Sri Lanka has taken, or proposes to take, for the prosecution or extradition of that person for that offence.”
But the issue is that the clause he quotes is almost identical to Section 7(2) of the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act, No. 22 of 1994, as pointed out by Gehan Gunathilaka.
“Where a request is made to the Government of Sri Lanka, by or on behalf of the Government of any State for the extradition of any person accused or convicted of the offence of torture, the Minister in charge of the subject of Foreign Affairs shall, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, forthwith inform the Government of the requesting State, of the measures which the Government of Sri Lanka has taken, or proposes to take, for the prosecution or extradition of that person, for that offence.”
This Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act was passed when Prof Peiris was the Minster of Justice in newly established Chandrika Kumaratunga government.
So which Prof Peiris is right? now or then?