100 government MPs demand the re-arrest of Riyaj Bathiudeen

One hundred Members of Parliament have written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa asking that they intervene to have former MP Rishard Bathiudeen's brother Riyaj Bathuiudeen re-arrested.  In the letter the MPs are asking for the law to be enforced as it should and for Riyaj to be re-arrested for his connection to the terror attack in 2019 that killed over 300 people.

A media release issued by the office of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the letter was handed over to the PM at Temple Trees last night.

Riyaj Bathiudeen was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in connection to the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka but was released on September 29.

Police said he was released due to a lack of sufficient evidence but his release has not been well-received. Several MPs have both questioned and opposed it and Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjit had expressed public disapproval, saying he wondered if there was a political 'deal' behind the release.

In respose, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa issued a statement emphasising that the protection of the country was foremost on his mind, and insisting there was no deal with Bathiudeen.

The letter, which has been circulated to media organisations, pointed out that the Police Media spokesman had said that Riyaj Bathiudeen had had “direct contacts with” the Easter bombers and had been spotted having a meeting with one of them at a hotel in Colombo.

It also quoted former Army Commander Gen Mahesh Senanayake as telling the Presidential Commission investigating the attacks that he had received an intelligence report that Bathiudeen had helped the leader of the group that carried out the attacks, Zahran Hashim, escape to India by providing him with a boat.

Senanayake was Army Chief during the period of the attacks and previously head of Military Intelligence.

Riyaj Bathiudeen is the younger brother of Opposition MP and former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen who was vilified by supporters of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) during the last government and in the run-up to the recent elections as a supporter of Islamic terrorism.

The SJB’s Tissa Attanayake said that the current government has the responsibility of punishing those behind the Easter attacks. “But we are surprised that people who are arrested in this investigation are released. It is becoming increasingly clear that all this is to ensure a majority to pass the 20th Amendment,” he told reporters last week.