Sri Lankan introduces new 'anti-terror' legislation
ASTANA. September 1. KAZINFORM The Sri Lankan government has introduced new legislation allowing it to continue holding terror suspects without charge; Kazinform refers to BBC.
The move came as the country's controversial emergency laws were brought to an end on Tuesday night.
The laws - which were first introduced in 1971 - were reintroduced during the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.
But now, partly as a result of international pressure, they have been been allowed to lapse.
In an interview with the BBC, Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem said that more than 1,000 suspects detained under the draconian emergency laws were likely to be freed next month.
"Between 1,200 and 1,500 people in detention may get released but there are some more who need to be kept in custody," he said.
Mr Hakeem said that people in this category were "hard-core terrorist suspects" who were likely to be detained until charged.
The new legislation allows the government to keep an undisclosed number of these suspects in prison, correspondents say.
Without the introduction of the new laws, they would have been freed because because of the expiry of the state of emergency.