Sri Lanka frees 1,000 prisoners to mark Christmas
Published on: Monday, December 25, 2023
By: AFP
Sri Lanka’s Presidential Secretariat in Colombo is decorated ahead of Christmas. — AFP pic
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe granted an amnesty to more than 1,000 convicts and released them from jails across the country to mark Christmas, a prisons official said today.
Among the 1,004 freed today were Sri Lankans jailed for not being able to pay outstanding fines, Prison Commissioner Gamini Dissanayake said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sri Lanka is majority Buddhist and a similar number of convicts were freed in May to mark the holiday of Vesak, which celebrates the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death.
The latest pardon came after police arrested nearly 15,000 people during a weeklong military-backed anti-narcotics drive that was halted on the eve of Christmas.
A police statement said 13,666 suspects were arrested while nearly 1,100 addicts were detained and sent for compulsory rehabilitation at a military-run facility.
The island nation’s jails are chronically overcrowded.
ADVERTISEMENT
As of Friday, there were nearly 30,000 inmates in facilities designed to hold 11,000, according to official data.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
ADVERTISEMENT
* Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
.jpg)
.jpg)
