This article appears in the Witness section of the autumn 2020 issue of the New Humanist. Subscribe today.
The Sri Lankan authorities have refused to drop charges brought against award-winning writer Shakthika Sathkumara, despite condemnation by humanists, artists and free speech activists across the world. The author faces up to ten years in prison on charges of inciting religious hatred, after publishing a short story on his Facebook wall last year, enraging some Buddhist groups who deemed it to be derogatory and defamatory to their faith.
Sathkumara is a renowned author of fiction, poetry and non-fiction on literary theory, theatre and Buddhism. The short story, titled “Ardha” (“Half”), particularly angered Buddhist groups due to its indirect references to homosexuality in the Buddhist clergy, while its post-modern handling of the legendary Siddhartha story was felt to insult the life of the Buddha.
Following his arrest on 1 April 2019, Sathkumara was detained for 127 days, in breach of international human rights laws. He has since been granted bail, and has made a statement saying he did not intend to insult the Buddhist community or any other faith. A legal petition alleging violations of Sathkumara’s fundamental rights was due to be heard in July, but the hearing has been postponed until March 2021.
Sri Lankan law states that “the deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class or persons” can be punished with a two-year prison sentence, a fine, or both. Inciting “discrimination, hostility or violence” is punishable by up to ten years in prison.
Humanists International have called on the Sri Lankan authorities to drop the case immediately and unconditionally, having reviewed the story and finding that it did not in any way incite violence or hatred.
The arrest has sparked a debate on freedom of expression in Sri Lanka, with the artistic community expressing concerns at the state’s attempts to police artworks and censor one of the country’s most celebrated authors.
Sathkumara was arrested under Sri Lanka’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is intended to protect citizens from “national, racial, or religious hatred” but is being abused in Sri Lanka. Soon after, a woman was arrested under the ICCPR Act for wearing a kaftan with what appeared to be a Buddhist symbol, but was in fact a ship’s wheel. This is part of a pattern of “uninformed, irresponsible arrests”, according to civil rights activist Gamini Viyangoda. “It has become a trend among the high-profile Buddhist clergy to assume that whatever they demand should be complied with.”
