(UTV | COLOMBO) – Sri Lanka has been urged to free poet and teacher Ahnaf Jazeem, who has been detained for a year without charge.
A number of organisations issued a joint statement expressing deep concerns over the ongoing detention of Ahnaf Jazeem and called on the Sri Lankan authorities to immediately release him, or promptly charge him with internationally recognizable criminal offences and try him in accordance with international fair trial standards.
Ahnaf Jazeem (pen name, Mannaramuthu Ahnaf) is a 26-year-old poet and teacher who was arrested on 16 May 2020 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
The joint statement was signed by PEN International, Amnesty International, The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, The International Working Group on Sri Lanka, International Truth and Justice Project – Sri Lanka, The Center for Justice and Accountability, Australian Centre for International Justice, Article 19, Human Rights Watch, IMADR, PEARL and Freemuse.
