An Analysis on the validity of the Unlawful Acts (Prevention) Act

The purpose of this research paper is to analyse and examine the validity of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967. This paper will describe in detail the background to the legislating of the UAPA 1967, and go on to further discuss the arbitrary provisions of the act. With the help of landmark case-laws, the paper will attempt to determine whether the provisions of the UAPA Act of 1967 are valid, both constitutionally and ethically. A comparison between the various detention and terrorism laws of other sovereign states will be discussed in this paper. The paper will further attempt, through case studies, try and establish how the act suppress free thinking, and criminalises dissent. In conclusion, the researcher will try and answer the two research questions of the paper and give his own suggestions.
Keywords: UAPA; Dissent; Free Speech; Arbitrary; Constitutional; Ethical