Shenali D Waduge

An unforgettable crime took place on Easter Sunday 21^stApril 2019. Close to 300 people will killed in a mass murder by 8 Islamic terrorist suicide bombers profaning to be members of ISIS. That they pledged support for ISIS prior to committing their heinous crime, requires Sri Lanka to view this incident as the first but not the last. Sri Lanka suffered 30 years of LTTE terrorism because it ignored the need to wipe out extremist separatist ideology. Sri Lanka cannot commit the same mistake by taking the case lightly simply because the 8 suicide bombers are dead. These suicide bombers were promoted to commit mass murder because of an ideology that was being promoted underground secretly by people camouflaged and wearing different hats in society to cover their gameplan. The People want truth & justice, more importantly the people are watching the AG’s department & CID to catch all those linked to the ideology that draws people to commit murder.Whether the culprits are lawyers and whether fellow lawyers & the UN bellows 24×7 – AG’s dept & CID must get to the bottom of this crime & punish all involved in planning the crime with severe indictments.

Attorney General’s Dept functions as prosecutors while CID & associated entities are engaged in investigations.  

There are 2 parts to the Easter Sunday debacle targeting 3 churches & 3 hotels by 8 suicide bombers.

Part 1should be to bring to book every person who played a role in planning, executing or assisting the mass murderthat took place on Easter Sunday. Ignoring this means the likelihood of many more future attacks!

Part 2should be to bring to book every person who was aware of the intel warnings sent but did nothing to prevent the crime when they had the authority & capacity to do so irrespective of their position. Authorities must also investigate politicians/lawyers/others who are trying to mislead & divertattentionaway from the facts.

According to media, the AG’s department has forwarded indictments to the Puttalam High Court against Hejaaz Hezbullah & Principal of Save the Pearls madrassa school Mohamed Shakeel. Based on this media report all that the arrested lawyer is going to be charged with is inciting racist animosity between different ethnic groups. To charge the Principal under same clause what acts of racism has he committed while doing a paid job?

Hejaaz Hizbullah, Mohamed Shakeel to face several charges in Puttalam HC

Is the charge of inciting ethnic hatred going to be the only charge against the arrested lawyer by the AG’s dept?

We hope the below facts are also being investigated & looked into by both the AGs dept & the CID & more serious charges will be filed at a future date.

Sri Lanka & ISIS 

It was on 29 June 2014 that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared a so-called Islamic State. 34 Sri Lankans went to Syria to join ISIS. All the 8 suicide bombers were seen pledging allegiance to ISIS (and we all know the real brains/countries behind these terrorists!)

The argument that arrested lawyer was only providing legal consultation to justify links with the Easter Sunday suicide bombers & their families is a shoddy argument. We hope the AG’s department realizes this, if not, we would like to pose the following questions to the AG’s dept & the CID

3 suicide bombers & their families had direct links with the arrested lawyer & these were not for legal consultations!– has the AG’s dept looked into these links & ties?

1. Ilham Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahimthe Shangrila Hotel suicide bomberwas the Treasurer of Save the Pearlscreated by the arrested lawyer in early 2015. Who appointed Ilham as Treasurer?
2. The arrested lawyer & brother of the Dehiwela suicide bomberwere having discussions in his Dematagoda house to set up Save the Pearls.

Abdul Latheef Mohamed Jameelblew himself up at the New Tropical Inn Hotel,Dehiwela on Easter Sunday – he was educated in Australia & UK

• Inshaff Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim (Cinnamon Grand suicide bomber)elder brother of Ilham the Shangri-la suicide bomber donated to Save the Pearls Trust – how much and what was this money used for by the arrested lawyer?

All 3 links with the 3 suicide bombers & their families have nothing to do with legal consultations.We hope the AG’s dept & CID have established this because the general public has!

The arrested lawyer however did give legal advice to the Dehiwela suicide bomber Jameel when he was summoned to CID in 2018 – WHY was he summoned? Note this link with a suicide bomber was before Easter Sunday bombing in April 2019.

Why did the arrested lawyer decide not to register Save the Pearls? 

As a lawyer he should know to register all lawfully functioningentities! As an unregistered ‘charity’ how much money has Save the Pearl/Trust received from overseas & locally & by whom and what has this money being used for? Has a proper audit been done by the AG’s dept & CID! 

What is the response of the AG’s dept to the arrested lawyer being an ADMIN of the Save the Pearls social media& exactly what was his role?

Is it a coincidence that the same time Jamaat-e-Millt Ibrahim (JMI) & Pearls of Wisdom was also formed in 2015immediately after the 2015 regime change took place assisted by US & Allies?

Did the AG’s dept & CID investigate if these Pearls” ended up being amalgamated as JMIto spread extremist fundamentalist ideology which resulted in creating 8 suicide bombers?

Has the AG’s dept looked into the sources of funding to Save the Pearls? 

What does the AG’s dept have to say about Save the Pearls receiving from Qater Charity banned by countries for funding terrorists!How much did this Charity send to Save the Pearls & what was the money used for?

Why is an internationally banned terrorist ‘charity’ sending money to an unregistered ‘charity’ teaching children?

Given that a banned terrorist organization has been linked to a local charity, what legal action is the AG’s dept taking against Save the Pearls?

Has the AG’s dept looked into who financed millions of rupees for the 2016 Best Mosque Competition event held at PM’s officeunder initiative Advocacy Reconciliation Council”. What was the purpose of this event & were members of this network linked to the Easter Sunday?

Is it a coincidence that the deported Sri Lankan linked to a suicide bombing in Syriahas as his lawyer – the arrested lawyer Hejaaz!

Is this arrested lawyer famed for arguing on behalf of terrorists!

What a coincidence, he even represented the suspects who damaged Buddha statues in Mawanellaarea through his junior lawyers!

Has the AG’s dept located which country the arrested lawyer was in at the time of the Easter Sunday attack& the duration of his stay?

Can the AG’s dept tell the public how many mobile phones this arrested lawyer operated & have all these SIM cardsbeen located& what do they reveal?

Close to 300 people perished and charging people on a lame ‘inciting ethnic disharmony’ is not the justice that the people are expecting to be delivered by the AG’s department.

The general public are no lawyers but they are not stupid either. They have followed every news report, every debate, every press/media release and in their eyes this arrested lawyer has been providing far more than professional legal consultations.

The arrested lawyer has had direct links to 3 suicide bombers prior to the Easter Sunday bombing with one of the 2 suicide-brothers functioning as his Treasurer and the other donating massive funds to his charity, while he has been seeking help from the 3^rdsuicide bombers brother to set up his charity & providing legal advice to the 3^rdsuicide bomber after he was summoned by CID in 2018. These links cannot be ignored and are all part & parcel of the greater ISIS fundamentalist ideology drawing people to commit murder in the name of religion. 

Thus, the public would like to ask if the Attorney General’s department & CID are going to further investigate the following areas the public think, are more important and should have taken priority in framing charges against the lawyer. He cannot be released with a lame charge!

If the UNHRC/fellow lawyers who are petitioning 24×7 on behalf of this arrested lawyer are doing so even after knowing above, it is a very sad state of affairs for Sri Lanka to have people side with terrorist-instigators and not the real victims of terror. We should not be surprised – LTTE lasted 30 years because the supposed same rights-activists always wanted GoSL to have tea with terrorists while happy to issue a feeble unemotional statement after every heinous terrorist act by LTTE.

Close to300 persons perished on Easter Sunday. It’s over 2 years and everyone is waiting for and demanding justice. However, some quarters locally & internationally have seen fit to hijack the status quo of ‘victim’ and plug it to people arrested for links to Easter Sunday. This is unforgiveable. Everyone is seeking the truth. Truth maybe bitter for some but they will have to accept it. Using the power of their positions, they cannot erase or dilute the truth. Truth & Justice must go hand in hand and we all want every person linked to the Easter Sunday crime to be punished. 

Let us remind all that the victims are not those arrested for links to Easter Sunday mass murder but those that perished inside 3 churches and 3 hotels and those that remain injured for life. If human rights organizations (both international & local) see fit to campaign for the release of a lawyer completely ignoring justice for these victims – we don’t need any court to determine their motives.

That the suicide bombers pledged allegiance to an entity that carries out murders on orders requires Sri Lanka’s law enforcement to eliminate the ideology & prosecute those involved in spreading it. The ideology has to be clipped to prevent future 21/4

Which is why, we expect, the AG’s dept and the CID to serve justice to the victims not to anyone linked to the attack projecting themselves as ‘victim’.

Shenali D Waduge