Photograph courtesy of JDS Lanka.
Sri Lankan authorities continue to hold a Muslim student under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), nine months after his arrest over a social media post expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
Mohamed Shuhail Mohamed Rifai, a 21-year-old resident of Mawanella, was initially arrested on 23 October 2024 by officers attached to the Dehiwala Police while searching for rental accommodation in Colombo, where he was enrolled in an Airline Cabin Crew course. According to reports by JDS Lanka, he was stopped and detained by police for not possessing his national identity card at the time.
Two days later, on 25 October, a judge ordered his release after Shuhail’s father, M. Rifai, produced the national ID in court. However, that same evening, the family was visited once again by officers from the Dehiwala Police, who re-arrested the young student and transported him back to Colombo.
Shuhail was subsequently detained under the PTA, with authorities citing an Instagram post he had shared condemning Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
The arrest and continued detention of Shuhail have disrupted his academic career, preventing him from graduating as scheduled in January 2025. Despite the passage of nine months, he remains in custody without charge.
The PTA, a piece of legislation long criticised by human rights organisations for facilitating arbitrary detention and targeting of Tamils and Muslims, continues to be used by the current Sri Lankan regime despite pledges to repeal it.
