{
  "id": 16988303,
  "title": "AI opposes draconian new laws to fight organised crime",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/ai-opposes-draconian-new-laws-to-fight-organised-crime",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-29T00:01:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Island Sri Lanka",
    "slug": "the-island-sri-lanka",
    "url": "http://island.lk/ai-opposes-draconian-new-laws-to-fight-organised-crime/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Amnesty International has called for a Sri Lankan bill that would grant authorities extensive powers to combat \"organised crime\" to be immediately withdrawn. The Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill, introduced on October 6th, contains provisions that would allow confessions obtained under duress, detain suspects for up to two years without trial, and prohibit media from reporting on court proceedings. It also grants police the authority to conduct warrantless searches and imprison individuals for not providing information to authorities. Amnesty International's South Asia Director, Smriti Singh, stated that the Bill mirrors key elements of Sri Lanka's repressive Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has been used to target minorities and suppress dissent. She warned that the Bill entrenches impunity and risks reviving conditions that enabled arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment under the PTA. The Bill would allow secret trials, remove crucial safeguards against police abuse, and infringe on privacy rights by enabling police to obtain personal information from telecommunications companies without a court order. Critics argue that the Bill risks facilitating torture and other ill-treatment by weakening safeguards against coercion and undermining fair trial guarantees.",
  "summary": "A new Bill before Sri Lanka’s Parliament that grants the authorities sweeping arbitrary powers to tackle ‘organised crime’ and deny suspects’ human rights should be immediately withdrawn, Amnesty International said. The Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill, tabled in Sri Lanka’s Parliament on 6 October, contains provisions that would make confessions extracted under duress admissible in […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}