The trigger was supposedly a road-rage incident, said to have involved members of Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority, near the popular tourist destination of Kandy. A lorry driver from the country’s biggest ethnic group, the Sinhalese, ended up dead. Angry Sinhalese mobs, urged on by Buddhist monks, began attacking mosques and businesses owned by Muslims, hurling […]
Theme: National Security More than 200 people were killed and hundreds more were injured in nine bombs on Easter Sunday 2019 in Sri Lanka, the country experiencing its bloodiest violence since a terrible civil war ended there 10 years ago. After Easter Sunday assaults on churches and hotels left hundreds of people dead, Sri Lankan […]
The last presidential election took place in November 2019. According to a survey conducted by ‘Democracy Reporting International’: Based on the 3,362 postings examined, activity on Facebook pages and groups surged between September and November 2019 by 310 percent and 226 percent, respectively, starting from when the dates for candidate nomination and election were revealed. […]
Theme=Election As the call for the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa becomes stronger as a result of rising food and gasoline costs, so too do internet influence operations that aim to tamper with the legitimacy of the demonstrations. Numerous Facebook sites and proxy accounts connected to the Rajapaksa family are disseminating memes to […]
Theme= Socio-Economic Sri Lanka is experiencing severe food, fuel, and other basic shortages, as well as dramatic price increases and debilitating power outages, in its most painful slump since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. The day after a crowd attempted to attack his residence in Colombo, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency. […]
Theme: Socio-Economic The goal of the Essential Public Services Act (EPSA) proclamation is to end an indefinite strike by over 65,000 health professionals, including nurses, paramedics, public health inspectors, medical laboratory techs, and pharmacists. The president of Sri Lanka has outlawed strikes in the health and energy sectors in response to trade union action that […]
Theme: Public Health In 2021, Sri Lanka’s President removed then Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, who publicly endorsed sorcery and magic potions to battle Covid-19, as coronavirus infections and deaths hit record highs. She also poured a pot of “blessed” water into a river after a self-styled godman told her that it would end the pandemic […]
Theme: Public Health While communal tensions in Sri Lanka had reached a boiling point following the Easter Sunday suicide bombings of churches and hotels by Islamist militants on 21 April 2019, which killed 269 people and injured around 500, Dr. Segu Siyabdeen Mohamed Shafi, also known as Dr. Shafi, of government teaching hospital, Kurunegala, 105km […]
Theme: Human Rights For nearly 40 years, Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) has allowed for extended arbitrary imprisonment, the extraction of false confessions through torture, and the targeting of minority populations and civil society organisations. After years of internal and international criticism, the Sri Lankan administration of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a bill […]
Hejaaz Hizbullah is a Sri Lankan human rights lawyer. He has been a strong opponent of the country’s prejudice and violence against religious and ethnic minorities. Hejaaz Hizbullah was imprisoned without bail for 22 months under the 1979 Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and released on bail on 9 February 2022. On 14 April 2020, […]