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Easter attacks: AG wants probe widened
Attorney General Dappula De Livera has ordered further investigations into five individuals named in the final report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that probed the Easter Sunday attacks, telling police that probes conducted thus far were inadequate.
Accordingly, the AG has informed Inspector General (IGP) C.D. Wickramaratne to expand criminal investigations into Abu Hind, Ahamed Thalib Lukman Thalib, his son Lukman Thalib Ahamed aka ‘Abu Abdulla,’ Rimsan and Mahendran Pulasthini alias ‘Sara.’ The five individuals have been named in the chapter titled ‘Foreign Involvement’ in the CoI’s final report.
The report states that according to testimony, Zaharan Hashim, the leader of the Easter attackers, believed Abu Hind was an Islamic State regional representative. Evidence given before the CoI has confirmed that he had been in touch with both Zaharan and his brother Rilwan, as well as Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammad Naufer, the theoretician of Zaharan’s group.
‘Sara’ was the wife of Achchi Mohammadu Mohammadu Hasthun, the suicide bomber at St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya. The CoI had heard testimony from two witnesses who said Sara was seen alive after the Easter attacks and had fled to India. DNA analysis with the mother of Sara did not match any of those killed at the blast in Saindamarudu on April 26, 2019, the CoI report notes.
The CoI report has also named a Sri Lankan identified as Rimsan who is allegedly connected to Al-Qaeda.
The report also claims that Ahamed Thalib Lukman Thalib and his son Lukman Thalib Ahamed aka ‘Abu Abdulla,’ who are domiciled in Australia, had facilitated several members of the Sri Lanka Jamaat-E-Islami Student Movement (SLJISM), to proceed to Syria through Turkey for arms training. The CoI report notes that the duo’s alleged role in Islamic State and Al-Qaeda activity in Sri Lanka needed to be probed.
Prof. Lukman Thalib’s legal team, meanwhile, has issued a statement decrying the allegations made against him and his son as “baseless, scandalous and defamatory.” The statement added that Prof. Thalib and his son “have no relation with violence or terror groups or with any terror plots that have taken place. Our client’s fundamental rights, reputation and honour have been violated and his safety has been placed at risk.”
Prof. Thalib has spent most of his life outside of Sri Lanka over the past 20 years, and his only connection with the country had been his brief visits to see his mother. These visits continued until the passing away of his mother, the statement said. “Prof. Dr. Lukman Thalib and his family are innocent. They believe they have been made a scapegoat for crimes that they have not committed,” the legal team asserted.
The Attorney General, meanwhile, filed indictments this week in the Puttalam High Court against lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah and Puttalam Al Suhariya Madrassa principal Mohamed Shakeel. They were indicted on offences coming under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act. Though indictments have been filed, the Sunday Times understands that the AG has directed police to widen the investigations into Mr Hizbullah and Mr Shakeel in relation to several other complaints over alleged extremist activities.