Controversial Sri Lankan monk jailed for insulting Islam

A militant Sri Lankan monk, a close ally of ousted former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has been sentenced to nine months in prison for insulting Islam and inciting religious hatred.

Jalagudhati Nanasara was convicted on Thursday over the remarks dating back to 2016.

Sri Lanka rarely condemns Buddhist monks, but this is the second time Nanasara, who has been repeatedly accused of hate crimes and acts of violence against Muslims, has been imprisoned.

The sentence, handed down by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court, follows a presidential pardon he received in 2019 over a six-year prison sentence related to intimidation and contempt of court.

Gnanasara was arrested in December over remarks he made during a 2016 media conference, where he made several insulting statements about Islam.

The court said on Thursday that all citizens, regardless of their religion, are entitled to freedom of belief under the Constitution.

He was also sentenced to a fine of 1,500 Sri Lankan rupees ($5; £4). The court ruling added that failure to pay the fine would result in imprisonment for an additional month.

Gannasara has filed an appeal against the ruling. The court rejected his lawyer’s request to release him on bail until a final ruling on the appeal is issued.

He was a reliable ally of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to resign and flee abroad after mass protests over the economic crisis in the island nation in 2022.

During Rajapaksa’s presidency, Janasara, who also leads a Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist group, was appointed head of a presidential task force on legal reforms aimed at protecting religious harmony.

after Overthrow of RajapaksaNanasara was imprisoned last year on a similar charge of hate speech against the country’s Muslim minority, but was released on bail while appealing his four-year prison sentence.

In 2018, he was sentenced to six years in prison for contempt of court Intimidating the wife of a political cartoonist Which is widely believed to have disappeared. However, he only served nine months of that sentence because he was pardoned by Maithripala Sirisena who was the country’s president at the time.