Police in Sri Lanka have arrested a rapper on terrorism charges over the video of a song he posted online. It is the latest abuse of a draconian counterterrorism law still in use years after successive governments have promised to repeal it.
Sangeethsan Ganeskumar, 24, known by his stage name Hiphop Sangee, was detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on June 2. He was produced in court the following day and sent for pretrial detention until June 17. Police allege that the video of a song he posted on TikTok “supported or glorified” the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist armed group that waged a 26-year civil war against the Sri Lankan state and was defeated in 2009.
The counterterrorism law was first adopted as a “temporary” measure in 1979 but remains in regular use, often to target members of Tamil and Muslim communities and perceived critics of the government. The law grants authorities sweeping powers to impose prolonged detention without charge or judicial oversight and has frequently enabled torture to secure convictions based on forced confessions.
United Nations data found that 49 people were arrested under the law in the first five months of 2025, many from minority communities, including in connection with social media posts. Journalists and activists, especially Tamils, are called in for questioning by counterterrorism police, while civil society organizations face financial interference on the pretext of combatting “terrorist financing.”
In 2017, after Sri Lanka was readmitted to a European Union program known as GSP+, which allows tariff-free access to the EU market conditioned on the implementation of human rights conventions, the then-government promised to repeal the PTA. But nearly a decade later, despite repeated EU calls on Sri Lanka to uphold its commitment, the law remains on the books. The current government pledged prior to being elected in 2024 to repeal the PTA. Instead, it has increased the law’s use, while attempts to draft alternative legislation have floundered.
Sri Lanka should immediately impose a moratorium on use of the PTA. And after years of unmet pledges by Sri Lanka to repeal the law, the EU should reflect on its implementation of the GSP+ scheme, especially as Sri Lanka prepares to apply for renewed membership later this year.
