Sri Lanka Easter bombings: 15 sentenced to hundreds of years in prison each over deadly terror attacks

A court in Sri Lanka has convicted 15 men over their involvement in the 2019 Easter bombings that killed 267 people, and sentenced them each to at least 200 years in prison, meaning they will spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

Nearly 600 people were wounded in the suicide bomb attacks on 21 April that targeted three churches and three hotels across the country during Easter services and celebrations. The bombings, which were inspired by the Islamic State (IS) group, were among the deadliest attacks in Sri Lanka’s history.

The verdict was delivered on Tuesday by a three-judge high court panel after a trial that spanned nearly five years, and amid tight security, with hundreds of police deployed around the courthouse.

The judges also ordered the property of the defendants, who were all from Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community, to be confiscated.

In 2021, authorities filed 23,270 charges against 25 suspects whom they accused of planning or inspiring the attacks. The charges included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and firearms and explosives offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

None of those believed to have directly participated in the attacks are alive. Two Sri Lanka-based Islamist militant groups were accused of carrying out the bombings.

In the courtroom, the accused appeared relaxed, chatting and laughing with each other during breaks. They asked for and were granted a prayer break during the lengthy reading of the judgment.

Nine defendants were freed after the court found that the charges against them were not proven. One other died before their case reached trial. Those freed tearfully hugged the rest as they were separated from those convicted, who were later invited to argue for lenient sentences.

In total, five defendants were sentenced to 200 years each, five to 220 years, four to 240 years each and one to 260 years, based on their involvement in conspiring and aiding the attacks.

“What I did or didn’t do only God and I know,” said Mohamed Ibrahim Saadiq Abdulla, who was given 240 years in prison with hard labour. “In the end all people will be resurrected and God will judge everyone.”

In calculating the sentences, the court considered all seven blasts: three at churches, three at tourist hotels and one at a motel where an attacker killed himself and two others after aborting his plan to attack a fourth hotel.

Haripriya Jayasundara, who led the prosecution, called for longer prison terms, saying the defendants were part of a well-planned attack carried out with the intention of killing Christian worshippers and tourists, which was proven by a video recording left behind by one of the suicide bombers.

The video, recorded the day before the bombings, showed the attackers with their faces covered, armed with rifles and swords and pledging allegiance to the then IS leader Abu Bakhr al-Baghdadi to make Sri Lanka an Islamic nation and wage war towards that end.

Sri Lanka’s Catholic church has claimed, without providing evidence, that those identified so far as perpetrators are not the masterminds behind the bombings, and that there was a bigger conspiracy behind the attacks.

A parliamentary committee found that police and intelligence officials failed to act on repeated intelligence warnings of the attacks.

In July, a former police chief and a former senior defence ministry official were also sentenced to death for failing to act promptly on foreign intelligence warnings of possible attacks.

Sri Lanka has not carried out an execution since 1976, meaning death sentences typically result in life imprisonment.