BASL urged to take action over lawyer Hizbullah's arrest

COLOMBO (News1st) : A group of lawyers has called on the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) to take action over depriving access to lawyers to the arrested attorney Hejaaz Hizbullah, who has been in detention for more than four weeks without due process. In a letter to BASL sent on Wednesday, the 185 lawyers said, Hizbullah is yet to be produced before a magistrate and has been deprived of access to a lawyer. "These are extremely serious lapses and constitute an egregious failure on the part of the Criminal Investigation Department to follow the law," the lawyers who signed the letter said. Hizbullah, a prominent constitutional lawyer who actively challenged the premature dissolution of the parliament in 2018, had been arrested in mid-April, for what it later became known, was his alleged links to the bombers behind last year's terrorist attacks on April 21. He is yet to be charged before a court. "We regard it as essential that the BASL stands up for compliance with the black letter of the law," the lawyers said referring to the established legal rules that are not disputed. They stressed that the bar association should intervene and ensure that Hizbullah's right to be produced before a court is granted, as it "has been violated" in this instance.