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• Contingencies and the human response to them are also a test of fundamental values of humanity
• Thus, dangerously and disturbingly a good deal of Islamophobia is being made into the mainstream
• This general sense of backwardness is amplified when the saner voices of professors, specialist doctors and other professionals fail to speak up

When your country is doing something totally different from  what the rest of the world does, literally in exact opposition to the common sense practised and adopted by 194 countries in the world,  things aren’t just right.

That is what the government should reckon of its flawed policy of compulsory cremation of dead bodies of Muslims. According to the religious belief of Muslims, the burning of the dead is tantamount to desecration. And the rest of the world has taken note of it and made allowances. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also permits both cremation and burial for the disposal of Covid-19 related death bodies.

Whereas the Government of SriLanka has defended its policy on the basis of scientific advice by an expert committee, but this isn’t science. This is demagoguery.

During the early stage of the Covid -19 pandemic, when the first deaths were reported in March, there existed a degree of uncertainty on the proper way of doing the last rites. The initial health ministry guidelines allowed for both cremation and burial, but the cremation was favoured as the safer way. Then, when the first Muslim died on March 31, the victim’s family insisted on burial. Instead of reaching out for wider discourse, the Ministry of Health issued a circular- Ministry of Health (MOH) Circular No. EPID/400/2019 n-cov on 1 April 2020, which required that all COVID-19 victims be cremated.

Since then, despite the initial success of the battle against Covid-19, Sri Lanka had made headlines for the wrong reasons, caused further distress for the family members of Covid victims, and contributed to the alienation of the Muslim community.

Science

The policy is defended on the grounds of the supposedly unique topography of Sri Lanka. Given low groundwater tables and high humidity, it was argued that the virus in the cadavers would pollute the water sources.

“We experience high rainfall, low groundwater table, highly porous subsurface soil, and fractured rocks compared to most temperate countries in the world, which may lead the transport of biological and chemical compounds from dead bodies.” Writes Prof. MeththikaVithanage, one of the members of the expert panel appointed by the Ministry of Health.

However, the evidence on the matter is limited and contested.

The WHO, in its updated interim guidance on “water, sanitation, hygiene, and waste management for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19” observes: “While the presence of SARS-CoV-2 us in untreated drinking water is possible, infectious virus has not been detected in drinking-water supplies. There is at least one documented instance of detecting RNA fragments of SARS-CoV-2 in a river, during the peak of the epidemic in northern Italy. It is suspected the river was affected by raw, untreated sewage. Other Coronaviruses have not been detected in surface or groundwater sources and thus the risk Coronaviruses pose to drinking-water supplies is low. Within waste water, infectious SARS-CoV-2 has not been detected in untreated or treated sewage.”

It also notes “Though little evidence is available, some data suggest that transmission via faeces, is possible but unlikely, especially where faeces become aerosolized.”

Also, the WHO in its interim guidelines on the safe management of a dead body in the covid-19 context observed: “Except in cases of haemorrhagic fevers (such as Ebola, Marburg) and cholera, dead bodies are generally not infectious. Only the lungs of patients with pandemic influenza, if handled improperly during an autopsy, can be infectious. Otherwise,cadavers do not transmit disease. It is a common myth that persons who have died of a communicable disease should be cremated, but this is not true.Cremation is a matter of cultural choice and available resources”

Thus the problem is not exactly about science, it is how findings are filtered by the Sri Lankan government and its advisors, feeding off from and feeding into a racially charged environment.

Human decency

Contingencies and the human response to them are also a test of fundamental values of humanity. The covid-19 itself entails trade offs between two imperatives of human decency and risk management. As much as the virus is a medical contingency, how the states respond to it is a matter of human decency, ethics and fair play. Not unduly victimising a portion of its people, and not straining their fundamental values, are important for the long- term endurance of nations. This is where Sri Lanka has lost out.

This failure in the civilised exercise is as tragic and alarming as Covid 19 is. Worse still because you expect the intelligentsia of the country to be a beacon of reason, justice and fair play. That also entails a common-sense to pick the right trade-off where complex choices are involved ( though one doubts whether this even falls in that category, for what is right being pretty straight forward)

This general sense of backwardness is amplified when the saner voices of professors, specialist doctors and other professionals fail to speak up. There will be long term consequences on the stock of intellectual capital and recognition by the peers.

Racism

One should not delude him or herself to think this whole saga stems from science. It is not. This draws from a growing reservoir of Islamaphobia in the country. This government relied on borderline racism to mobilize a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist vote during the election. Thus, dangerously and disturbingly a good deal of Islamophobia is being made into the mainstream. Scientific pundits are feeding into these sentiments, and the government that wants to provide a sense of relief to Muslims ( presumably after a group of pole vaulter Muslim MPs voted for the 20th Amendment, now find it hard to turn back on its nationalist audience. Now, more than the doctors, it is the monks and the usual culprits of the nationalist bandwagon who are vocal against the review of funeral arrangements.

The media earlier reported that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had instructed the authorities to find a burial place in a dry land. (That if he can do so, it is a vindication of the hollowness of the scientific basis of the government policy is a different story.) However, he walked back on the instruction. Now the government is awaiting a report by an expert committee which would reportedly take two more months.

Sri Lanka’s compulsory cremation of Covid-19 related dead bodies is not a case of extra-caution or science. It is proof of scientific ignorance, callousness and an overwhelming lack of enlightenment.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Compulsory-cremation-of-Covid-19-dead-bodies-of-Muslims-Science-human-decency-and-racism/172-200012

The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, the EU and UN Human Rights Core Group on Sri Lanka have expressed their concerns on the arbitrary arrest and detention of Hizbullah [Photo courtesy: Family]

Why Sri Lanka jailed a Muslim lawyer without charge for 6 months

Rights groups and members of civil society have raised concerns over the continued incarceration of a Muslim lawyer in Sri Lanka, adding that his prolonged detention “had a chilling effect on anyone involved in peaceful dissent and advocacy”.

Hejaaz Hizbullah, a prominent human rights lawyer, was arrested on “terrorism” charges in April and has remained in detention without charges, with rights groups saying he has been denied due process rights.

Sri Lankan authorities said he had been detained for links to the perpetrators of the 2019 Easter Bombings, which left more than 250 people dead and injured more than 500 – the Indian Ocean island nation’s worst attack since the end of civil war in 2009.  Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the police had not presented “any credible evidence” against Hizbullah, adding that he was denied his due process rights and kept in custody despite calls from UN experts “that prison populations must be reduced to prevent the spread of COVID-19”.  The president’s spokesperson Mohan Samaranayake did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.  Hizbullah, a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, was arrested under the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which allows the government to detain suspects without charge and or having to present them before a judge.  “Even though the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration has said that it does not want to continue its support to the Human Rights Council resolution, the Sri Lankan government remains obliged to keep its pledges, including to repeal PTA, regardless of the party that might be in power,” Ganguly added.  A person can be detained for 90 days under the PTA, with the option to renew the incarceration period for another 90 days for up to 18 months.  The New York-based HRW has dubbed the PTA a “draconian” law, one that the previous Sri Lankan government headed by Maithripala Sirisena pledged to revoke in a 2015 Human Rights Council resolution.  Rights groups have raised concerns over shrinking space for dissent since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa – a Buddhist hardliner – took power last November on the promise to boost security in the island nation in the wake of the deadly bombings.  In August, the HRW said the government of President Gotabaya has waged “a campaign of fear and intimidation against human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, and others challenging government policy”.  According to Thyagi Ruwanpathiran, South Asia researcher at Amnesty International, Hizbullah’s arrest “had a chilling effect on anyone involved in peaceful dissent and advocacy, be it lawyers, human rights defenders or members of the minority Muslim community”.  “There is a real fear of being targeted for your professional work where you could suffer reprisals from the state,” she told Al Jazeera.  The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, the European Union and UN Human Rights Core Group on Sri Lanka have also expressed their concerns regarding the arbitrary arrest and detention of Hizbullah.  A local magistrate court in the capital, Colombo, is hearing his case again on October 28, but activists say there is little hope of bail.  ‘Pure fabrication’ Of the several accusations made against Hizbullah include his relationship with Yusuf Mohammad Ibrahim, a business owner, whose sons Inshaf and Ilham were two of the seven perpetrators of the Easter Sunday bombings. Hizbullah was Ibrahim’s lawyer.  Hizbullah, along with Ibrahim, also served on the board of the Save the Pearl charity, which works with underprivileged children.  Ilham also served on the board briefly in 2016 briefly, until he was asked to step down, a report by Amnesty International said. According to the human rights group, these associations with Ibrahim and Save the Pearl were being used to detain Hizbullah.

“The detention order says that Hejaaz [Hizbullah] is being investigated for allegedly ‘aiding and abetting’ the Easter Sunday bombers and for engaging in activities deemed ‘detrimental to the religious harmony among communities'”, the Amnesty report said.

Another accusation against Hizbullah is that he indirectly, through a school funded by Save the Pearl, fed “extremist” ideas and thoughts to children between the ages of 8-13, Hafeel Farisz, one of Hizbullah’s lawyers, told Al Jazeera.

The children from Al-Zuhriya Arabic College in Puttalam district were interrogated by the police for several days in April, during which they were threatened and coerced into accusing Hizbullah of providing “terrorist” training, said the lawyer.

Farisz said the children described accusations against Hizbullah as “pure fabrication”.

It was also revealed in the media that the children questioned had filed for legal action against the police for “infringement of their fundamental rights”.

‘Real fear’
Critics say Hizbullah was targeted because of his work on interfaith relations and reconciliation amid rising Islamophobia in the island nation fraught with sectarian and ethnic divide.

Hilmy Ahmed, CEO of Young Asia Television, told Al Jazeera from Colombo that Hizbullah was a “victim of the hate campaign that has been staged-managed by extremist Buddhists”.

“Hejaaz [Hizbullah] is a non-violent and extremely values-based individual who would never promote any form of extremism let alone violence,” Ahmed said, adding he had known the accused for more than 20 years.

Since the Easter bombing, anti-Muslim sentiment has been running high, with rights groups blaming Buddhist nationalists for “hate speech” and “mob violence” against Muslims.

Groups such as Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), a Buddhist far-right group, has been accused behind attacks against Muslims since 2009 when the Sri Lankan forces defeated Tamil separatists, ending a civil war that lasted nearly 30 years.

The BBS has previously successfully run an anti-halal campaign and called for a ban on the burqa, a full-body veil worn by some Muslim women that covers the face as well.

Muslims, who comprise about 10 percent of the population, say they have faced discrimination and hate speech from hardline Buddhist groups, who wield influence in the current governing Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party led by the Rajapaksa brothers.

Earlier this year, the government decision to cremate Muslims who died of COVID-19, caused anguish in the community, as the traditional Islamic funeral was denied. Families said it was against WHO guidelines and done to harass Muslims, who were blamed for spreading the virus that has killed more than one million people globally.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/15/sri-lanka-muslim-lawyer

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When the case of the arrest of Hejaaz Hizbullah was taken up yesterday, the Counsel alleged that the Criminal Investigations Department had misled the Cardinal and the public with regard to Hizbullah.

“They lied to His Eminence the Cardinal and the public. The real culprits were never caught and they have instead found a scapegoat in Hejaaz,” the Counsel said.

The CID submitting a report said that they were awaiting a Government Analyst report on three phones used by Hizbullah.

“This is how they lied throughout. They said the investigations were to be completed and a Deputy Solicitor General of the Attorney General’s Department said it would be by 16 September. The CID lied to the Attorney General’s Department as well and is now seeking further time.”

The CID said that transactions of Qatar Charity were being investigated by the TID, to which the Counsel submitted a brief containing records of Qatar Charity. “There is not a word in the reports that Mr. Hizbullah received funds. Instead what it says is an organisation called Islamic Relief Fund received this money. Who fed this story that Hejaaz received money? It was the CID, like they fed the forced confessions story. In any event Qatar Charity is a world-renowned charity and this is all trumped up to keep an innocent man and protect the real wrongdoers,” the Counsel said.

The Magistrate questioned the CID regarding the progress on the investigations into how statements made confidentially by the children were leaked to the media.

“It was the CID who prepared the statements and then leaked them,” the Court was told, after it being pointed out that no investigation thus far had been carried out despite Court orders.

The Magistrate ordered the CID to submit a progress report of the TID and on the investigation into the media leaks on 28 October.

http://www.ft.lk/news/Hejaaz-Hizbullah-case-CID-misled-public-and-Cardinal-says-Counsel/56-707182

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The prominent Sri Lankan Muslim lawyer, Hejaaz Hizbullah, is being described by human rights groups as the latest victim of Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.

On April 14, Hizbullah, 40, got a call from the Ministry of Health saying they were worried he may have contracted COVID-19 and advised him to remain at home.

A day earlier he and others had written to the Sri Lankan president about his government’s decision to ban Muslims from burying their dead, forcing them to cremate their remains instead – a violation of their right to freedom of religion, as protected by Sri Lanka’s constitution and its international obligations.

Hejaaz Hizbullah was a lawyer at the Supreme Court and worked as a state counsel for the Attorney General’s department. Beyond his legal work, he was involved in interfaith and reconciliation work, tackling the rising tide of Islamophobia that is now a key concern for human rights groups when it comes to Sri Lanka.

The health officials never visited him after the call, but he did get a knock on the door from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police. They handcuffed him and placed him under arrest without explaining why. When Hizbullah’s relatives asked if the police had an arrest warrant, they were warned not to ask any questions.

Hejaaz Hizbullah is currently serving a detention order under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), where any “suspect” can be placed in detention without charge and without being produced before a judge. The detention order can continue to be renewed for up to 18 months.

The PTA has long been criticised as an abusive law that has been used to crush dissent and forcibly disappear people, along with other violations. The Sri Lankan authorities have even acknowledged the inherently abusive character of the PTA but have failed to repeal it as promised.

Amnesty International says the authorities have plunged Hizbullah in this predicament on the basis of nothing more than his legitimate associations with Mohamed Ibrahim, the father of the bombers who perpetrated attacks on churches in Sri Lanka over Easter 2019.

The authorities have publicly stated that the reason for his arrest were his interactions with the bombers and their family. Mohamed Ibrahim’s sons, Inshaf and Ilham, were two of the seven bombers who set off six explosions across Sri Lanka on 21 April 2019, striking three churches and three five-star hotels on Easter Sunday and killing more than 250 people.

The detention order says that Hejaaz Hizbullah is being investigated for allegedly “aiding and abetting” the Easter Sunday bombers and for engaging in activities deemed “detrimental to the religious harmony among communities.”

Amnesty says Hizbullah was connected to Mohamed Ibrahim in two ways. For the past five years, he had served as his lawyer, handling legal cases related to his business. He and Mohamed Ibrahim were also part of the “Save the Pearls” organisation, a charity that supports the education of underprivileged children, hoping to lure them away from criminal activities and drug abuse.

Amnesty International says it is extremely concerned that the case and evidence against Hejaaz Hizbullah may now be subject to fabrication.

“A new allegation has emerged that a school supported by the Save the Pearls charity was responsible for preaching extremism’ and even providing the children weapons training,’ Amnesty said. “These charges lack credibility because nearly three months since his arbitrary arrest, authorities have so far been unable to substantiate their claims with evidence…

“Hejaaz has been subject to an unfair character assassination in local media by the authorities in an environment where anti-Muslim sentiment is rife, and prominent Muslim professionals have been unfairly targeted in the recent past.

“The Sri Lankan government must immediately restore Hejaaz’s due process rights, including producing him before a judge, allowing him to challenge the grounds of his detention, ensuring that he has unfettered access to his family and lawyers, and, in the absence of any charges of credible evidence of a crime being committed, release him.”

Hizbullah’s brother, Hefraz, added: “Having been to a Christian school with a multicultural environment, he integrated well with people from all faiths, with no leanings towards extremism whatsoever. Hejaaz is someone with a spotless track record. He worked hard and excelled at what he did.

“Knowing how he was arrested and how he’s being portrayed as an extremist connected to the terror attacks under the allegation of apparently aiding one of the perpetrators and worse is an absolute shock… Hejaaz had a lot of plans for his family’s future together but right now all that is up in the air. Everyone is just praying and hoping for the best. And it pains me that we can’t do more than just proclaim his innocence and hope that justice, eventually, is served.”

https://5pillarsuk.com/2020/09/08/sri-lanka-has-locked-up-this-muslim-lawyer-without-charge-for-nearly-five-months/?fbclid=IwAR3rWoZmjoBtEhc6xK8xhRucAZYApbSzaHDG32M6YbVpUeQUEdMsqe5WL3s