BASL hits out at British law enforcement

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has come out strongly against the British law enforcement authorities for permitting supporters of the LTTE, a banned organization in Britain to brazenly violate the law of that country indulging in demonstrations during the recent visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the UK. Issuing a statement the BASL states:

The Executive Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka is perturbed by the recent incident surrounding the visit of President of Sri Lanka and particularly, expresses its dismay at the incomprehensible conduct of the law enforcement officers of the British Government in allowing the purported supporters of a banned terrorist organization, the LTTE to openly, brazenly and in clear violation of the law, hold demonstrations and indulge in other illegal conduct.

This movement is banned in the United Kingdom by Chapter 11 of Terrorism Act 2000 (amended by Terrorism Act 2006). These demonstrations were allowed to be held under the banned LTTE flag at several public places, among which was the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. This would suggest, that the British Government and or its law enforcement authorities were willing to condone, or were not concerned about, the breach of its own laws even in front of the diplomatic premises accorded to countries on their soil.

This is a serious lapse not only of diplomatic protocol, but also of a basic rule requiring the enforcement of a law which was, and is still, regarded as an effective tool against terrorism. The British law as it is presently enacted, and which many nations have also enacted, prohibits 'the act of being a member of, or supporting such a group,' or wearing an item of clothing such as 'to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of a proscribed organization' makes it sufficient to be prosecuted for a terrorist offence. We now see only a selective application of this law, and limited to only situations which the host nation perceives as a threat to itself from that banned organization, and not to any other part of the world which suffers (or has suffered as in the case of Sri Lanka) from the scourge of terrorism.

We the Executive Committee of the Bar Association, therefore, calls upon the British Government and its law enforcement officers to forthwith, even at this stage, enforce the provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000 (amended by Terrorism Act 2006) by a resolute investigation to bring those responsible for staging these protests under the flag of a banned organization, to justice, so that the laws against terrorism are effectively enforced.