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Billionaire and global business icon Sir Richard Branson has publicly weighed in on Sri Lanka’s intention to enforce the death penalty.

Joining a chorus of concern coming in from all over the world, Branson has expressed his concern in writing to the government of Sri Lanka and publicly tweeted for the world to see.

With over 12 million followers on twitter, Branson’s tweet on this issue is sure to generate awareness and concerns throughout the globe.

(AFP) - Maithripala Sirisena said he has completed formalities to end a 42-year-old moratorium on the death penalty which he has said is needed to clamp down on a rampant narcotics trade.

“I have signed the death warrants of four. They have not been told yet. We don’t want to announce the names yet because that could lead to unrest in prisons,” Sirisena told reporters at his official residence.

He did not say when the executions would be carried out, only that it would be “very soon”.

An official in Sirisena’s office said the president wanted the hangings to be a powerful message to the illegal drugs trade.

Sirisena said there were 200,000 drug addicts in the country and 60 percent of the 24,000 prison population were drug offenders.

His remarks came a day after Amnesty International said it was “alarmed” over media reports of preparations to resume executions.

“Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena must immediately halt his plans to resume executions…,” Amnesty said in a statement.

Sirisena in February announced the country would carry out the first executions in decades, saying he had been inspired by President Rodrigo Duterte’s strongarm campaign in the Philippines.

The president has also appealed to human rights organisations not to pressure him.

Criminals in Sri Lanka are regularly handed death sentences for murder, rape and drug-related crimes but since 1976 their punishments have been commuted to life imprisonment.

The country however currently has no executioner.

The justice ministry said more than a dozen people had been shortlisted to fill the vacancy, but no formal appointment has been made.

While Sri Lanka’s last execution was more than four decades ago, an executioner was in post until his retirement in 2014. Three replacements since have quit after short stints at the unused gallows.

Sri Lanka’s implementation of the death penalty will cause the United Kingdom (UK) to reconsider its engagement on security issues, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said in a statement.

Reports emerged this week that president Maithripala Sirisena had signed the execution warrants of four drug convicts. The reports have drawn international criticism from states and rights groups.

“Sri Lanka voted in favour of a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty at the UN General Assembly just six months ago,” the FCO highlighted.

“A reversal of this policy would be a regressive step that would harm Sri Lanka’s international standing and its reputation as a tourist destination and growing centre for business. Implementation of the death penalty will inevitably make it more difficult for the UK to cooperate on law enforcement issues, including on counter terrorism, and will require us to review our technical assistance programmes on relevant policing, defence and other security issues,” The Foreign Office said.

The UK had raised their concerns at the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government, the statement said.

Recent news reports in the media quoting an opposition Parliamentarian to the effect that the People’s Bank is to be privatized is completely false and misleading, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said today.

Samaraweera said that certain political parties and trade unions affiliated to those parties had alleged that the government is set to privatize People’s Bank citing financial difficulties to infuse capital.

"But there is no truth in these allegations and the government categorically dismisses this claim of privatization as false and misleading the people made with ulterior motives," he pointed out.

"It is understood that this baseless allegation is made following the proposal made by the Ministry of Finance to amend the People’s Bank Act No 29 of 1961 enabling the Bank to increase the authorized capital and the debentures to strengthen the financial stability and effectiveness of its operations. Once this amendment is passed in Parliament, the employees and depositors can get these securities and there is no intention to issue equity securities to outsiders," Finance Minister said.

"The Budget 2019 speech made by me as the Minister of Finance in Parliament had proposed on the needs to develop capital markets beyond bank financing. Therefore, I wish to emphasize that the attempts on the part of political parties to portray that the government is trying to privatize People’s Bank is a malicious attempt to hide their political bankruptcy. There is no attempt on the part of the government or the Ministry of Finance to privatize People’s Bank as stated in the media," Samaraweera said.

The Bribery Commission has filed a case in the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar against former Minister and SLPP stalwart Mahindananda Aluthgamage and former Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando for causing loses amounting to Rs 53 million to the government.

According to the Bribery Commission, the fraud had occured while purchasing 14,000 carrom boards and 11,000 checker boards during Aluthgamage's tenure as Sports Minister.

The Marawila Magistrates’ Court yesterday ordered the Chairman of the Wennappuwa Pradeshiya Sabha to appear before Court on Friday (28) over a written request made by him asking the police to temporarily ban Muslim merchants from taking part Dankotuwa Sathi Pola (weekly fair).

The Magistrates’ Court issued the order after the Dankotuwa Police acted swiftly to avert communal tensions caused by the SLPP-controlled Pradeshiya Sabha’s move to exclude traders of one community.

According to Police, Wennappuwa Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman K.V. Susantha Perera had given a letter to the OIC of Dankotuwa Police Station, Thilina Hettiarachchi, asking him to temporarily ban the Muslim traders at Dankotuwa weekly fair. The PS Chcairman’s letter went viral on social media.

Police sources said that OIC Thilina Hettiarachchi and officers of the Dankotuwa Police, on advice by higher officers, has gone to the Courts to seek judicial guidance on this sensitive matter.

Asked about the letter Wennappuwa PS Chairman Susantha Perera admitted that he had given such a letter of request to the Dankotuwa Police.

“I asked them to temporarily remove Muslim traders from taking part in the Dankotuwa weekly fair in order to prevent possible escalation of clashes in the area, so as to prevent a bigger crisis,” he claimed. “I made this request in response to various public complaints and concerns communicated to me verbally as well as in writing,” he said.

“I can show the media if they are interested, a large number of petitions I have received which will explain the current situation in flux,” he said.

“My decision is temporary. I have arranged a meeting on the 10th with religious leaders of all faiths, the monks and political leaders to discuss the matter,” he said.

He further said that after Easter Sunday bombings, the Muslim traders did not turn up at Dankotwa Sathi Pola until the police asked them to come and that there are many sections that have become agitated about it.

One petition calling for the exclusion of Muslim traders that was signed by a large number of persons says that it is an issue of ensuring “Sinhala dominance” in the Dankotuwa Pola.

The Dankotuwa Police said that it was ready to ensure security and peace at the Pola. Wennappuwa PS Opposition Leader Shirone Fernando (UNP) told the Daily News that his party fully opposed the ‘ban’ move as one that would disrupt ethnic relations and worsen the situation. JVP district coordinator Ajith Gihan also stated that the ‘ban’ move was a racially motivated one and aimed at causing communal tensions. He said that the JVP fully opposed the move by the PS chairman. Meanwhile, SLPP members defended their chairman’s ‘ban’ move as one that was “temporary” and was meant to avoid communal tensions. (Prasad Purnimal)

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) informed court today that there was no evidence to prove the allegations made against Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen, the doctor attached to the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital.

OIC of the CID Gang Robberies Branch IP Nishantha Silva made the submission to the Kurunegala Magistrate Court when the case was heard today,The Sunday Morning quoting CID sources said.

The doctor had been accused of illegally sterilizing several women during operations he had conducted, preventing them from being able to give birth again.

However, the family of the doctor has denied the allegations made against him.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has recorded statements from over 750 people with regards to allegations made against Dr. Seigu Siyabdeen Mohamed Saafi.

Sri Lankan Entrepreneur and Activist Sathira Sarachchandra attended the Inauguration of the Indo Pacific Cyber Security Alliance and the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF 2019) on Network Security and Emerging Technologies representing Sri Lanka by the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Mr. Sarachchandra holds Director positions at the National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) and the National Youth Services Council (NYSC) of Sri Lanka. He delivered his remarks at the forum on the Current Status, Opportunities & Challenges of Cyber Security in Sri Lanka.

The forum was held in Taipei, Taiwan with the Participation of legislators, policy makers, diplomats and officials of 20 Indo Pacific countries including USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Philippines, Chile etc and was hosted jointly by Taiwan, USA and Japan. The forum was led by the Taiwan Minister of Foreign Affairs Kelly Wu-Chiao Hsieh and it was proposed to build a joint security platform between Indo Pacific countries to counter the increasing threat of Cyber Attacks. The Director of the United States Department of Homeland Security Mr. Bob Kolasky and Officials from the US Department of State, Economic Bureau, Federal Communication Commission, and representatives from other counties also gave their remarks at the forum.

Mr. Sarachchandra also attended the opening ceremony of Computex 2019 which was opened by the President of Republic of China (Taiwan) H.E. Tsai Ing-Wen.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made a brief visit to Sri Lanka this morning while on his way to Osaka, Japan to attend the G20 Summit.

He was accompanied by a delegation of 20 members. They were welcomed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Minister Arjuna Ranatunga.

The President was hosted to tea at the VVIP lounge at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).

After refueling, the special plane carrying the South African President and the delegation left for Japan at around noon.

Dr Shafi Shihabdeen, who has been embroiled in a sterilisation scandal, has filed a Fundamental Rights petition before the Supreme Court today requesting to declare his arrest and detention as illegal.

The petitioner categorically states that the allegation that Dr Shihabdeen had surreptitiously performed sterilisations on Sinhalese women whilst doing caesarian operations is baseless, frivolous and unsupported by any clinical evidence and has been made out maliciously to tarnish his image and cause disrepute to him professionally and personally.

The Petitioner states further that;

i. A caesarian is done in the operating theatre in the presence of at least 06 other persons being - 01 house officer, 01 Medical Officer anaesthetist, 01 running nurse, 01 nurse assisting the Senior House Officer [SHO], 01 paediatric house officer and 01 mid wife. Often this number is more than 06 with the addition of another nurse and other technicians to control and adjust the lights etc.

ii. Whilst the caesarian is being performed, the others in the room are watching the actions of the SHO attentively as they need to respond to his requests and to any unexpected emergency with utmost speed as the life of the mother and the child are involved. The allegation of surreptitiousness is absurd in these circumstances.

iii. Doing a tubal ligation [standard LRT procedure] would require an additional 10 to 20 minutes extra time in addition to the time taken to perform the caesarian which in itself would raise an alarm and have been discovered;

iv. Damaging the fallopian canal/tubes through ‘clamping’ would not be possible as that would require two extra clamps in addition to the forceps, clamps and equipment issued for a caesarian and which extra clamps have to be specifically requested from the hospital and issued by the nurse and which again would raise an alarm and suspicion;

v. There are 02 clamps issued with the caesarian pack but these clamps are kept with the nurse assisting the SHO and handed to be used only after the baby is delivered to cut the umbilical cord. If the SHO had requested the clamps earlier that in itself would have raised an alarm and a complaint would have been lodged long before;

vi. Caesarian operations are done by making a transverse cut at the bottom of the abdomen and the point where the baby’s head is engaged with the pelvic cavity and the baby is taken out head first and when there is a baby in the uterus, the fallopian tubes are pushed further up the abdomen and have to examined specially as they are not visible ordinarily;

vii. In order for clamping to be done, both the fallopian tubes ought to be made visible and which could be done by a process known as ‘exteriorising’ the uterus which in practical terms is taking the uterus out of the abdomen, which again is virtually impossible to do surreptitiously without anyone knowing or seeing;

viii. If there has been any damage to the fallopian tubes by pinching it with the fingers, then the damaged tubes would have caused serious complications such as acute bleeding and infection in the mother within 10 days of delivery which would in itself have alerted the hospital of any wrong doing;

ix. The fallopian tubes are thick muscular slippery organs and pinching or crushing them with the hand whilst wearing surgical gloves would be very difficult and would require crushing it continuously for around 10 to 15 minutes and there is no evidence in medical literature that such a procedure is possible or has been done or that it would cause infertility;

Caesarians performed under supervision

Caesarians are performed with the authorisation by a Consultant, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and under his/her supervision and for which operations the Consultant is responsible.

Professor Hemantha Senanayake, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo and former President of the College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology speaking to the newspaper 'Daily Mirror' stated that the ‘sterilisation story’ is highly unlikely ‘because usually, in the presence of other medical officers, it isn’t an easy task to carry out thousands of wrong C - section deliveries and that the fallopian tubes are not usually seen at caesarian sections’.

Furthermore, it has been revealed that Dr Shihabdeen has performed his duties under the guidance of the following Consultants in Obstetrics and Gynaecology;

i. Dr. Upali Jayawardena ii. Dr. Rohantha Periyapperuma, iii. Dr. Gunasinghe, iv. Dr. S. B. Ekanayake, v. Dr. Peshala Dangalla, vi. Dr. Pathinisekara. vii. Dr. Sumith Warnasooriya. viii. Dr. Susantha Amarasinghe. ix. Dr. Lenadora.

Furthermore, the aforementioned Consultants have not raised any questions or made any complaints whatsoever against Dr Shihabdeen with regard to the performance of his duties.

Divaina's attempt to frame Dr Shihabdeen

Despite the factual reality that doing one illegal tubal crushing is a virtual impossibility, the Divaina of May 23rd, 2019 published a front page headline story stating that 4000 Sinhala Buddhist mothers had been sterilised by their fallopian tubes being ‘tied’ by a doctor who is a member of the National Thowheed Jamaath and stated that the Police had ‘evidence’ and that a special police team had been deployed to arrest the doctor and that wide investigations had been launched by the Police.

The said news article referred to information received from ‘police sources’ and was given front page headline publicity to set the stage and justify the illegal arrest and illegal detention of Dr Shihabdeen without any legal basis whatsoever.

The front page headline story in Divaina created disquiet and anxiety in the country with people demanding the arrest and prosecution of the doctor. They went to the extent of demanding that steps be taken to punish the doctor involved by imposing the death penalty.

After the story was published an academic from the Rajarata University shared a post on May 23rd, 2019 on social media stating falsely that it was possible to damage the fallopian tubes by the process of clamping whilst performing a caesarian operation. Later in the day around 5.30 pm on May 23rd, 2019 he shared a further post stating that Dr Shihabdeen had performed 8000 caesarian operations. The insinuation was obvious. Thereafter the several persons began openly accusing Dr Shihabdeen on social media as being the doctor who performed 4000 sterilisations as referred to in the Divaina article which article was published on ‘Police sources’.

The Petitioner states further that the Divaina news story was discussed in Parliament by the leader of the JVP, Anura Kumara Dissanayake MP and the Honourable Speaker stated that the Inspector General of Police had confirmed to him the fact that there was no such investigation. The Police spokesperson ASP Ruwan Gunasekera thereafter on May 23, 2019 stated that ‘a doctor was being investigated for his income’ and nothing further.

The arrest:

The Petitioner states that on May 24th, 2019 Dr Shihabdeen and his wife, Dr Imara proceeded to the Kurunegela Teaching Hospital to perform their respective shifts. As Dr Shihabdeen was identified on social media as the doctor who had purported performed the alleged illegal sterilisation of 4000 Sinhala Buddhist women, threats were made on social media against him and his family and they feared for their life and property. There were rumours that Dr Shihabdeen would be arrested by the Police within the coming days for the alleged sterilisations.

As the Petitioner was in Kurunegala with his junior, Mr Rizwan Uwais, Attorney - at - Law appearing in a matter before the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court, on the request of a member of the Kurunegala bar, the Petitioner met Dr Shihabdeen for a consultation around 4.30 pm on May 24th, 2019. Dr Shihabdeen was concerned about the threats made to him and his family and decided to make a complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department with regard to the threats being made on Facebook and agreed to meet the Petitioner again in Colombo on Saturday, May 25th, 2019.

Later fearing for the safety of her family Dr Imara telephoned, her cousin Mohamed Parsan to come to their house and he arrived at Dr Shihabdeen’s house at around 7.30 pm. Dr Shihabdeen left for the mosque with his son, close to around 8.00 pm in a three wheeler belong to one N M Farhan who had come there at that time on Mohamed Parsan’s request. Dr Shihabdeen’s friend

Mohamed Sajith also arrived at Dr Shihabdeen’s house at around 8.30 pm as was his usual practice to go with Dr Shihabdeen to the mosque but Dr Shihabdeen had left home by that time. Mohamed Sajith stayed back discussing the tense situation in Kurunegala and the threats against Dr Shafi Shihabeen. Dr Imara’s brother Riyaz Ahsan was also at home at that time.

Around 8.35 pm two Police officers in civvies unknown to Dr. Shihabdeen arrived at his residence. The Petitioner states that;

i. When the said Police officers arrived at Dr Shihabdeen’s residence as he was at the mosque the Police officers requested from Mohamed Parsan who opened the gate that Dr Shihabdeen be asked to return home forthwith. Mohamed Parsan then contacted N M Farhan and shortly thereafter Dr Shihabdeen arrived home in N M Farhan’s three wheeler. Dr Shihabdeen appeared to identify the police officers from the previous search at his office and they began a cordial conversation and Dr Shihabdeen began discussing with the said officers about the false allegations and threats that had been made against him and his family. He had informed them that he wished to make a complaint about these matters;
ii. The said officers had indicated that making a complaint would be a good idea and requested that he should come to the Police station and make the complaint and stated that they would accompany him to the Kurunegala Police station;
iii. He proceeded to the Police station in his friend’s vehicle being driven by his friend Mohamed Sajith with the two Police officers also in the vehicle. Dr Shihabdeen’s brother - in - law Riyaz Ahsan and N M Farhan followed in Dr Shihabdeen’s vehicle;
iv. Near the Kandy Reach hotel a Police jeep was parked and the said jeep then followed the two vehicles;

However when they came near the Police station the two Police officers requested them to keep driving and shortly after they passed the Kurunegala Police Station, the Police officers requested the driver to slow down the vehicle;

vi. Thereafter the said Police jeep overtook the vehicle in which Dr Shihabdeen was traveling in and stopped in front. Thereafter the 1st Respondent stepped out of the jeep and asked Dr Shihabdeen to get into the Police jeep;

vii. Dr Shihabdeen was then taken to the Police station and kept their and brought back home at around 11.00 pm;

viii. This time a team of officers arrived, some in civil clothing and others in uniform carrying weapons with Dr Shihabdeen;

ix. When Mohamed Parsan opened the gate, they indicated that they needed to search Dr Shihabdeen’s residence and took his mobile phone and asked him to sit outside in the three wheeler of N M Farhan which was parked in the garden of Dr Shihabdeen’s;

x. Shortly thereafter another team arrived with sniffer dogs and thoroughly searched the residence;

xi. The Police dismantled the CCTV DVR and also prohibited any person in the house from using their mobile phones whilst the search was going on;

xii. The whole search operation lasted approximately two hours and during the search a Police officer was receiving calls from someone who seemed to be a superior officer and the conversations were overhead by Muhammed Parsan as the said officer would come out of the house to answer the calls. During those calls the said officer had responded by stating that there was ‘still nothing’ referring to there being no evidence to arrest Dr Shihabdeen.

Around 1. 00 am on May 25th, 2019 the Police requested Dr Shihabdeen to have dinner and although he was reluctant, he had consumed his meal. Thereafter the Police recorded a statement from Dr Imara with regard to the manner in which the search was done and asked her if she had anything else to state and thereupon her complaint was recorded relating to the allegations against her husband and the threats made to their family.

Then around 1. 30 am the Police instructed Dr Shihabdeen to come to the Police station to record his statement along with them and at which point Dr Shihabdeen requested that he be permitted to come in the morning. However the Police officers had insisted that he should come with them to the Police station. No reasons were given.

The Police officers also removed from his residence the passports of Dr Shihabdeen, his wife Dr Imara, their children and that of Dr Shihabdeen’s father in law, accounts books, computer CPU’s, tabs and laptops belonging to Dr Shihabdeen and his wife and a briefcase containing documents with regard to the lands purchased by Dr Shihabdeen. No arrest note was issued or acknowledgement given for the items taken.

The Petitioner states that consequent to his unlawful his arrest the Police invited the public to make complaints with regard to the allegation of sterilisation by Dr Shihabdeen. This request received wide publicity.

Violations of Dr Shihabdeen’s Fundamental Rights:

The Petitioner states that Dr Shihabdeen’s Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Article 12(1), 12(2), 13(1), 13 (2) and 14(1)(g) have been violated by the illegal arrest and illegal detention purportedly under a detention order as stated in the Report filed in MC Kurunegela B 1398/19 dated May 27th, 2019.

Furthermore, Dr Shihabdeen has not been issued with a copy of the detention order which is said to have been issued and has requested for the same.

The Petitioner states that Respondents have acted maliciously, arbitrarily and illegally in arresting and detaining Dr. Shihabdeen. Dr. Shihabdeen’s arrest, detention and continued detention are illegal, ultra vires, unreasonable, disproportionate and an abuse of power.

As such, the petitioner states that Dr.Shihabdeen's right to be presumed innocent has been vitiated by inviting the public to prefer complaints consequent to Dr Shihabdeen’s unlawful arrest and his right to engage in his lawful occupation has been violated.

 Read the full petition below.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka is a proof that the country is safe, Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said.

"Prime Minister Modi came to Sri Lanka and it is the proof that Sri Lanka is safe. He visited churches in Sri Lanka. He was cordial and comfortable and what is a better proof of safety than that," Amaratunga has told the ANI.

Modi paid a stopover visit to Sri Lanka earlier this month on his way back to India from the Maldives.

Amaratunga's statement came after over two months of deadly Easter Sunday attack which targeted eight locations, including three churches, killing more than 250 people.

Talking about the impact of the terror attack which took place on April 21 in Sri Lanka, he said, "Sri Lanka is the same as was before the blast. However, our intelligence was quick enough within 10 days to apprehend who supported ISIS criminals who destroyed churches and hotel in Sri Lanka."

Negating the impact of ongoing emergency in Sri Lanka, the minister said the reason the total removal of travel advisory by countries is because of the emergency.

"Emergency has no danger to tourism. We needed to investigate the people behind the attacks. In 2-3 days emergency will be removed. The movement in the city is normal as it was before April 21," he added.

The minister also discussed tourism incentives for Indians by releasing a package including tickets and hotels at a heavy discount rate of almost 50-60 per cent.

Amartunga assured that Sri Lanka is safe and secure. He stated that 4,500 Indians in 2018 amounted to 19 to 20 per cent of the arrivals to the country and said India is number 1 in terms of tourist arrivals.

Former Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen is set to appear tomorrow (26) before the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) investigating the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, Army Commander Lt Gen. Mahesh Senanayake is also expected to appear before the PSC tomorrow.

According to reports, the Secretary to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the General Manager of the Industrial Development Board (IDB) have also been summoned to testify before the committee.

The Sri Lankan government has initiated several investigations into the Easter Sunday blasts, including by a presidential committee and a parliamentary select committee.

The panel announced on Saturday that both Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the State Defence Minister and two former law and order Ministers would meet it to give evidence.

IGP Pujith Jayasundara, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former Easter Province Governor M.L.A.M. Hizbullah and former Western Province Governor Azath Salley are among several high ranking officials who have testified before the panel so far.