Hejaaz a free man finally

After being granted bail, Attorney-at-Law Hejaaz Hizbullah (second from left) comes out of the Puttalam High Court yesterday accompanied by lawyers Farman Cassim PC (second from right) Hafeel Farisz (left), Dhanushan Kaneshayogan, and Niran Aneketell 

Hejaaz walked as a free man after 22 months of incarceration, drawing local and international condemnation. 

He was arrested in April 2020 on suspicion of being linked to the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels.

But after prosecutors failed to provide evidence of his involvement in the attacks, blamed on a local jihadist group, he was instead charged with inciting “racial hatred” under Sri Lanka’s expansive Prevention of Terrorism Act. 

The Court of Appeal said “draconian elements” of the law had been misused to keep Hizbullah detained and noted that Parliament had begun a process to reform the act.