Sri Lankan president frees 1,000 inmates to mark Christmas

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe exercised his executive power by granting amnesty to more than 1,000 convicts, releasing them from prisons across the country in celebration of Christmas. This decision was communicated by a prisons official on Monday.

Among the 1,004 individuals released on Monday, a notable group consisted of Sri Lankans who had been incarcerated due to their inability to pay outstanding fines. Prison Commissioner Gamini Dissanayake provided details regarding this specific category of released prisoners.

Buddhist majority and previous pardons

Sri Lanka, where the majority of the population adheres to Buddhism, has a tradition of releasing prisoners on significant religious occasions. In May, a similar number of convicts were pardoned in honor of Vesak, a Buddhist holiday commemorating the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death.

The recent amnesty occurred in the aftermath of a weeklong military-backed anti-narcotics operation. Approximately 15,000 individuals were arrested during this initiative, which was abruptly halted on Christmas Eve. The released statement from the police revealed that out of the total arrests, 13,666 were suspects, while nearly 1,100 addicts were detained for compulsory rehabilitation at a military-operated facility.

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An ongoing challenge faced by Sri Lanka is the chronic overcrowding in its correctional facilities. Official data as of Friday indicated that these prisons, designed to accommodate 11,000 inmates, were currently holding nearly 30,000 people.

(With inputs from agencies)