The Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar has sentenced an accused to 260 years of rigorous imprisonment, the longest individual sentence handed down yesterday (22) in the long-running case concerning the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.
The three-member High Court bench also imposed lengthy prison terms on 14 other accused after finding them guilty of charges including conspiracy in connection with the attacks, providing assistance and support and conducting extremist lectures.
Five accused were each sentenced to 200 years of rigorous imprisonment, while another five received 220-year sentences. Four accused were sentenced to 240 years each, while the eighth accused, Abdul Manaf Mohamed Firdous, received a 260-year sentence.
The court further ordered that all movable and immovable property belonging to the 15 convicted defendants be confiscated with effect from the time the judgment was delivered.
The judgment followed a trial spanning several years. The case was filed in 2019 against 25 individuals, including Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufar, alias Naufar Moulavi, in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks.
The prosecution had filed more than 23,270 charges relating to alleged conspiracy, assistance and other offences connected to the attacks, which targeted three Catholic churches and three leading hotels in Colombo, as well as other locations across the country.
A total of 2,309 prosecution witnesses testified during the proceedings. The recording of evidence concluded on August 24.
The final judgment was delivered yesterday afternoon by High Court Judges Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanathan Kannan and Sujeewa Nissanka.
Delivering the verdict, the presiding judge said the three judges had reached their conclusions unanimously after considering all the evidence presented before the court.
The bench ruled that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt the charges against 15 of the 25 accused.
However, the court acquitted and ordered the release of nine other accused after determining that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges against them beyond reasonable doubt.
The accused convicted in the case were subsequently sentenced during proceedings held last evening.
Those sentenced to 200 years each were Mohamed Anwar Mohamed Rizkan, Mohamed Mansoor Mohamed Samsudeen, Huseinul Rizvi Khalid Sameer, Mohamed Hanifa Zainul Abdeen and Kachchi Mohamed Mohamed Jemsith.
Naufar Moulavi, described in the case as an ideological mentor of Zahran Hashim and a subsequent leader of the extremist group, was among five accused sentenced to 220 years each. Mohamed Ramish Mohamed Sajith, Abdul Latheef Mohamed Safi, Mohamed Mustafa Mohamed Haris and Rasiq Raza Hussein also received 220-year sentences.
Mohamed Saribu Adam Lebbe, alias Gafoor Mama, Hayathu Mohamed Ahmed Milhan, Mohamed Ibrahim Sadiq Abdullah and Mohamed Ibrahim Zahid Abdul Haq were each sentenced to 240 years.
Abdul Manaf Mohamed Firdous received a 260-year sentence.
The court ordered the confiscation of the convicted defendants’ movable and immovable property from the time the judgment was pronounced.
The 15 convicted accused were later taken into custody by prison officials and transported to Welikada Prison at around 2.30 a.m. today.
