According to information sent to MPs on Thursday, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka prevented the country's parliament from passing a measure that would have allowed the government to arbitrarily hold individuals for up to two years in order to "de-radicalize."
The measure was introduced last month by the administration of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office earlier this year following the ouster of his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa due to widespread demonstrations over an economic crisis.
It would have allowed authorities to repress dissidents without turning to the courts by coercing them into "de-radicalization and rehabilitation."
But speaker Mahinda Abeywardana announced that the country’s highest court had ruled it was unconstitutional and could only become law if it was approved in a nationwide referendum.
The Supreme Court — which is empowered to scrutinise proposed legislation before it becomes law — held that only medically confirmed drug addicts should be rehabilitated, and no one else.
Parliamentary officials said the bill was now likely to be scrapped.
“Today there was a good determination by the Supreme Court,” said opposition legislator M.A. Sumanthiran.
“The cabinet which approved this bill must be rehabilitated.”
Critics accuse Wickremesinghe of being too close to the ousted Rajapaksa, who had put forward similar legislation last year and returned to Sri Lanka from exile in Thailand last month.