Sri Lanka: 15 men jailed for life in 2019 Easter bombings

A court in Sri Lanka convicted 15 men over the deadly 2019 Easter bombings, sentencing them to 200 to 260 years in prison on Tuesday.

A three-judge bench of the High Court in Colombo found 14 of the defendants guilty on all charges, which included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism and possessing firearms and explosives under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The 15th accused was found guilty only of some charges.

The court also ordered the seizure of the convicts' property and assets.

Nine men were acquitted in the trial. Those convicted have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

On April 21, 2019, coordinated suicide blasts struck three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 279 people and injuring 574 more — making it among the worst attacks in Sri Lanka's history.

Investigators had blamed the attack on a local Islamist extremist group.

The 15 defendants were among a total of 25 individuals  —  all from Sri Lanka's minority Muslim community —  accused of providing support to the suicide bombers.

Lengthy Sri Lanka Easter bombing trial

The trial lasted nearly five years with Sri Lankan authorities filing 23,270 charges in 2021 against the 25 suspects. One of the accused died in pretrial detention.

The case listed some 2,300 witnesses.

Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer, an Islamic cleric and the alleged leader of the Easter Sunday bombings, was among those sentenced.

Prosecutors said he had radicalized the other defendants with his teachings. He was sentenced to 240 years in prison with hard labor.

'Intelligence failure'

Tuesday's verdict came as a separate probe looks into allegations that elements within the Sri Lankan state may have had links to those responsible for the blasts.

The country's former intelligence chief Suresh Salley was arrested over accusations that he had a role in masterminding the attacks, a charge he denies.

A parliamentary committee had earlier found that police and intelligence officials ignored  foreign intelligence warnings of the attacks.

 In July, a former police chief and a former senior official of the Defense Ministry were given the death sentence for failing to act despite prior intelligence warnings.

Sri Lanka mourns bombing victims

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