{
  "id": 10096496,
  "title": "Day of Judgements and Political Fallouts",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/day-of-judgements-and-political-fallouts",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-27T00:00:58.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Island Sri Lanka",
    "slug": "the-island-sri-lanka",
    "url": "http://island.lk/day-of-judgements-and-political-fallouts/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The second anniversary of Anura Kumara Dissanayake's presidential election has passed, yet the day is still remembered for a series of judgments delivered simultaneously. Meanwhile, in New York, UN leaders were attending their 81st Annual Sessions, marking the ninth decade of the event. President AKD, who usually attends these sessions, was absent this year. Sri Lanka was not targeted by any contentious matters, but internal issues kept the NPP government and opposition on edge.\n\nThe day was beneficial for the NPP government, as they faced no reputational damage from the three judgments. Two Supreme Court rulings dealt with the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and the constitutionality of the Anti-Corruption Amendment Bill. The third judgment came from the Colombo Permanent High Court, following the trial-at-bar of 24 individuals accused in the 2019 Easter attacks. The unanimous verdict found 15 of the accused guilty and released the remaining nine. The convicted were sentenced to varying lengths of rigorous imprisonment, with the heaviest sentence being 260 years. All 15 guilty parties had their movable and immovable assets confiscated.\n\nThe verdict marked a significant step towards justice for the Easter attacks victims. While the government received political credit for concluding the trial after seven years of delays, the real heroes were the law enforcement officials who built a strong case against the 25 suspects. However, the search for Easter justice continues as other trials are ongoing, and the elusive mastermind remains unidentified. One of the 15 convicted, Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed Nawfar, was identified by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government as the mastermind, but this claim is not supported by the FBI affidavit from 2020. The FBI affidavit aimed to support the indictment of Naufar, Mohamed Riskan, and Ahamed Milhan for providing material support to ISIS, but they were not identified as masterminds. The true mastermind remains unknown, and there is still no clarity on a political mastermind behind the attacks.\n\nThe Catholic Church's plea for a thorough investigation into the Easter attacks' mastermind was met with positive response from the current president and NPP government. This change in attitude comes after years of frustrations with previous presidents and governments.",
  "summary": "Rajan Philips The second anniversary of Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s election as President has come and gone, but not before getting marked by a spate of judgements delivered and announced on a single day following the anniversary. Far away in New York, it has been a week of speeches by state and government leaders making their […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": "The verdict in the 2019 Easter attacks case brings closure to victims' families, credits the NPP government, and underscores a shift in the government's attitude towards investigating the attacks' mastermind.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}