By: Isuru Parakrama
Colombo (LNW): The Supreme Court has granted leave to proceed in four Fundamental Rights (FR) petitions filed by four minors, accusing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of arresting them and coercing them into signing confessions falsely implicating Attorney-at-Law Hejaaz Hizbullah in acts of terrorism.
The petitioners, all under the age of 14, allege that in 2020 they were taken in by the CID by force and held them alone up for 12 hours without their parents and coerced into signing false confessions charging the attorney in what they described as an orchestration of them identifying Hizbullah as the ‘person who provided them with weapons training’.
The petitions are represented by Geoff Alagaratnam PC, Farman Cassim PC, attorney Shantha Jayawardena, and attorney Nuwan Bopage.
The Supreme Court bench comprised Justices Murdhu Fernando, Priyantha Fernando, and A.M.D. Nawaz to hear the cases.
