Sri Lanka arrests school head over 2019 Easter attacks

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – Sri Lanka arrested a school principal over Easter attacks that killed more than 250 people in the country two years ago, according to local media.

The country’s Criminal Investigations Department arrested a principal of a madrasa school, Mohamed Shakeel, for allegedly “aiding and abetting” Hejaaz Hizbullah, a suspect in the 2019 devastating Easter Sunday terror attack, local online daily colombopage.com reported on Thursday.

Hizbullah is a lawyer and is already under arrest since April last year in connection with the attack.

On April 21, 2019, an Easter Sunday, eight explosions targeted different locations in and outside Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, killing at least 250 people. The government accused the National Thowheed Jamath, a local Muslim group, of allegedly organizing the blasts.

Shakeel is likely to be charged for abetting Hejaaz Hizbullah under the country’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Hizbullah is also booked under the PTA which allows the Sri Lankan government to detain a suspect without any charges for 18 months. He was scheduled to be presented before a court today.

He was detained after an order was issued by the country's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, under the PTA for allegedly "aiding and abetting” the Easter Sunday bombers and "engaging in activities deemed detrimental to religious harmony among communities.”

Meanwhile, Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said Catholics are willing to forgive those who staged the Easter Sunday attacks two years ago, Sinhalese Daily Mirror reported. But he also called for setting up new laws to prevent such mayhem in the future.

“However it is important to find out who really organized the April 21 attacks and to determine whether any international organization is involved," he added.

The attacks had triggered widespread condemnation while the Muslim community in the Buddhist-majority country had come under different attacks.

This led to the resignation of Muslim ministers and their deputies along with two governors who cited “the government’s failure to ensure the safety of Muslims following Easter Sunday attacks”, while mosques and Muslim-owned businesses were attacked by mobs and a Muslim man was also killed.