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Sri Lanka bombings
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Sri Lanka to free rights lawyer detained over Easter Sunday 2019 bombings

  • Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested in April 2020 on suspicion of being linked to deadly attacks on churches and hotels the previous year that killed 279
  • Court of Appeal said ‘draconian elements’ of law misused to keep him detained; detention highlighted by rights groups, European Parliament, UN

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Security forces inspect a church hit by a bomb in Colombo, Sri Lanka in April 2019, when almost 300 people were killed in Easter Sunday blasts. Now a Sri Lankan court has ordered the release of a lawyer arrested over his alleged ties to the bombings and held for nearly two years on charges rights groups say lacked evidence. Photo: Getty Images
Agence France-Presse
A Sri Lankan court on Monday ordered the release of a lawyer arrested over his alleged ties to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and held for nearly two years on charges rights groups say lacked evidence.
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Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested in April 2020 on suspicion of being linked to the devastating series of attacks on churches and hotels that left 279 people dead.

But after prosecutors failed to provide evidence of his involvement in the attacks, blamed on a local jihadist group, he was instead charged with inciting “racial hatred” under Sri Lanka’s expansive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Crime scene officials inspect the explosion area at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka in April 2019. Photo: Reuters
Crime scene officials inspect the explosion area at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka in April 2019. Photo: Reuters

The Court of Appeal said “draconian elements” of the law had been misused to keep Hizbullah detained and called on parliament to reform the act before granting him bail.

Monday’s decision comes just weeks before his case was due to be discussed at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, according to diplomats.

Dozens of rights groups have campaigned for Hizbullah’s freedom, and his detention has been highlighted by the European Parliament, which has also censured Sri Lanka over its rights record.

Local rights activist Bhavani Fonseka said news of Hizbullah’s impending release was “welcome” but called for reform of the PTA, which had allowed the indefinite detention.

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