Colombo’s special three-judge High Court has fixed November 17 and 18 for further evidence in the case over a pre-Easter Sunday terrorist training camp at Lactoswatte, Wanathawilluwa, where the sixth defendant is now conducting his own defence.
The case was called for evidence on Thursday, Hiru News reported. The bench comprises Lal Ranasinghe Bandara (President), Rashmi Singappuli and Nayomi Wickramasekara.
The sixth defendant
Mohamed Ramish Mohamed Sajith, known as Sajith Maulavi, was produced from prison. He had informed an earlier sitting that no other lawyer appears on his behalf, and he cross-examined the witness himself.
The charges
The Attorney General has filed 14 counts against six defendants under sections 2(1)(e) and 3(b) of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act No. 48 of 1979, as amended by Acts No. 22 of 1988 and No. 10 of 1982, read with section 3(4) together with 3(2)(a) of the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing Act No. 25 of 2005, as amended by Acts No. 41 of 2011 and No. 03 of 2013.
The alleged offences cover running a terrorist training camp at Lactoswatte in Puttalam district between 1 October 2018 and 16 January 2019 — before the Easter Sunday attacks — and collecting, without lawful authority, firearms, explosives and materials for manufacturing explosives together with Zahran Hashim and Mohamed Hasthun, the now-dead Shangri-La and Katuwapitiya bombers. A further count alleges inciting hostility between ethnic or religious groups.
What was recovered
More than 100 kg of urea nitrate, 99 detonators, nitric acid and a quantity of urea used in explosives manufacture, a firearm and 12 live rounds were seized at the Lactoswatte site.
Where the other defendants stand
The first defendant, Abu Hanifa Mohamed Mufees (Abu Dahida), owner of the Lactoswatte land, is charged with leasing it as a training camp for the Easter Sunday suspects.
Five defendants have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced: Mufees, Ameer Hamza Mohamed Hamas (Abu Safiya), Mohamed Sarpu Adam Lebbe (Ghafoor Mama), Mohamed Ibrahim Sadiq Abdullah (Abu Umar) and Mohammadu Ibrahim Mohammadu Nawfar (Nawfar Maulavi).
A note on the name
The filing renders the sixth defendant’s name two ways — Sajith in one passage and Sajid in another. Both appear in the same Hiru report; no other outlet checked carried the hearing.
