A Sri Lankan High Court on Tuesday sentenced 15 individuals to prison terms exceeding 200 years each for their roles in the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed at least 263 people and injured more than 500. The verdict revealed that several of the convicted had participated in workshops led by Zahran Hashim, the ringleader of the attacks and a key proponent of the Islamic State’s extremist ideology within Sri Lanka.
The ruling came after a four-year trial conducted by a three-judge bench consisting of Judges Nawarathna Marasinghe, Sujeewa Nissanka, and Ramanathan Kannan. The court found the prosecution’s case robust, convicting the accused beyond reasonable doubt of conspiring to carry out the attacks, aiding and abetting the bombers, and inciting religious disharmony. Nine other suspects were acquitted.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that Zahran Hashim conducted ideological workshops promoting ISIS-aligned extremism, recruiting followers through these sessions. Among those convicted, Mohamed Naufer Moulavi, Mohamed Ibrahim Sadiq Abdullah, and Mohamed Ramiz were identified as attendees of these workshops, where they also received weapons training. Testimony indicated that Zahran divided participants into groups—one tasked with active combat and the other with suicide missions—assigning code names prefixed with “Abu.” An unnamed witness described leaving the workshop after recognizing a distortion of Islamic teachings.
Investigations, carried out by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division and other law enforcement agencies, uncovered significant stockpiles of bomb-making materials and weapons stored in multiple safe houses rented by the accused across various locations, including Sendhil village in Saindamadura and Panadura. Comparisons between the materials found in these locations and those recovered from the suicide bombers confirmed their direct connection.
The court also heard evidence that Zahran and seven attackers intended to record a propaganda video under an ISIS flag, highlighting their commitment to the group’s ideology. The judgment noted inflammatory statements attributed to Mohamed Ramiz, including calls to wage war to convert non-Muslims and kill those who refuse, remarks that disturbed many workshop attendees.
The attacks, executed on April 21, 2019, targeted multiple Christian churches—St Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade, St Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, and Zion Church in Batticaloa—as well as luxury hotels in Colombo, including Kingsbury, Fort Shangri-La, and Cinnamon Grand. A separate bombing occurred at the New Tropical Inn Hotel in Dehiwala. The assaults were reportedly motivated as retaliatory acts for a mosque attack in New Zealand earlier that year and framed by Zahran as “Jihad,” promising martyrdom in paradise to those involved.
The prosecution, led by Senior Additional Solicitor General Haripriya Jayasundara and Additional Solicitor General Sudarshana de Silva, relied on testimony from 547 witnesses over the course of the extensive trial, presenting over 2,000 pieces of evidence, including explosives, weapons, post-mortem reports, and confessions from the accused. The court accepted confessions from ten defendants as voluntary and thus admissible.
Following the verdict, the judges ordered the confiscation of all movable and immovable properties belonging to the convicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Several of the accused expressed remorse or requested leniency, though one maintained his innocence and announced plans to appeal the decision.
The attack transformed Easter Sunday, a day traditionally reserved for Christian celebration, into one of the deadliest terrorist incidents in Sri Lankan history, leaving a profound impact on the nation and prompting a comprehensive legal response against violent extremism within its borders.