Sri Lanka police arrested writer Sarah Malini Perera, 38, on March 20 for allegedly offending Buddhism. Perera, who resides in Bahrain and was arrested while on holiday in Sri Lanka, has written two books in vernacular Sinhala detailing her conversion from Buddhism to Islam while working in the Middle East. Her lawyers filed a case on March 30 demanding her immediate release, but she remains in custody.
According to Dias, Perera is being held under Sri Lanka’s draconian emergency laws, with a detention order issued by the defence ministry. Police have not brought her before a court and no specific charges have been laid against her. The continuing state of emergency has been used to detain tens of thousands of young Tamils without trial since the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last May.
“Now the police say that they are questioning my client about possible links to Islamist militants,” Dias said. “She has no such ties. She is a victim of religious intolerance.”
It appears that after taking Perera into custody on religious grounds the police are now trying to concoct other charges to justify her continued detention. Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody told the BBC that Perera has been detained for involvement in “anti-state activities”, but did not elaborate. Under the Sri Lankan constitution, Buddhism is the country’s state religion. The Buddhist hierarchy holds considerable political clout. Perera’s persecution for her religious beliefs is a flagrant case of the widespread official discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/sril-a13.shtml
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