Court of Appeal to hear Dilith Jayaweera's writ against contempt referral on September 14

The Court of Appeal has fixed 14 September to hear a writ petition filed by MP Dilith Jayaweera challenging a contempt of court complaint referred to it by the Fort Magistrate.

The Magistrate concluded that remarks Jayaweera made during a television programme prima facie amounted to contempt of court and referred the complaint upward, NewsFirst reported.

The petition was taken up before a bench of President of the Court of Appeal Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya and Justice Priyantha Fernando.

What a writ application means here

Jayaweera is not contesting a contempt conviction — no finding has been made against him. He is asking the Court of Appeal to review the referral itself, the standard route for challenging whether a lower court had the basis or jurisdiction to act as it did. A successful application would stop the contempt proceeding before it is heard on its merits.

Context

Jayaweera leads Sarvajana Balaya and entered Parliament at the 2024 general election. He has been an outspoken government critic, describing the administration in August as drifting towards the authoritarianism of the J.R. Jayewardene era and arguing in June that the government was misusing the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

He has faced contempt allegations before. In June the CID pursued contempt charges against Jayaweera alongside Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks investigation. NewsFirst does not say whether Thursday’s matter arises from that thread or from a separate complaint, and this article does not assume it does.

Not reported

NewsFirst does not identify the television programme, the date of the broadcast, or what Jayaweera actually said — the substance on which the whole proceeding turns. It does not name the complainant, say which case the remarks are said to have concerned, or state the grounds advanced in the writ application. No response from the Attorney General’s Department is recorded, and no other verified newsroom had filed on the hearing date at the time of writing.

Sources: NewsFirst.