The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has questioned close associates of Ahamed Adhil Mohamed Samsudeen, the man who carried out the attack at a shopping mall in New Zealand.

The Police media unit said that investigations revealed that the attacker had left Sri Lanka as a student in 2011.

The Police said that his close associates are now being questioned in order to gather more information about him.

Ahamed Adhil Mohamed Samsudeen is a resident of Kattankudy, a town in Batticaloa in the East.

The lone attacker grabbed a knife at the mall in Auckland and attacked shoppers yesterday (Friday) injuring seven, including three critically.

New Zealand Police, who were undercover at the mall, shot and killed the man after he stabbed seven people.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had said the Sri Lankan national was under Police surveillance and was a supporter of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

While condemning the recent terrorist attack on innocent civilians in New Zealand, Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera today threw a challenge to the 22 organizations to make a joint public statement that they reject Wahhabism and Salafism’.

Ven. Gnanasara said the attack was carried out by a Muslim man who left Sri Lanka about 10 years ago and has been living in New Zealand ever since.

The prelate pointed out that a similar attack was launched in Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019 in the name of religion. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

The BBS organisation has released a statement describing the situation as follows:

September 04, 2021

Terrorist attack by the Islamic State(IS) Sri Lankan in New Zealand.

We strongly condemn yesterday’s(2) terrorist attack on innocent civilians which was conducted in the name of Islam by a Muslim who left Sri Lanka about 10 years ago and was living in New Zealand.

A similar attack was launched in Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019 in the name of religion, making the dangers pointed out for several years by the Bodu Bala Sena a reality. The question before us today is whether a lesson has been learned from the said attack as a nation. The politicization and oscillation of the Easter attack carried out by Saharan and his gang in the name of religion is further endangering our country.

Can those trying to take advantage of the Can “hunting the mastermind of the Easter attack” scenario adopted in Sri Lanka be used to find the mastermind of the Auckland attacker? Absolutely not. This is not because of any other reason but because there is no need to direct terrorism by someone else since Its based on religious principles.

A believer who is confused by a religious teaching has the opportunity to become a terrorist at any time and carry out isolated attacks. Hundreds of such “Wahhabi attacks” have taken place around the world.

Ahmed Adil Mohamed Samsudeen, now known as Ahmed Adil Mohamed Samsudeen, has been under New Zealand intelligence watch list well before the attack. But the country’s security forces have had to wait until he launches the attack. If such a situation arises in Sri Lanka, opportunistic politicians will point the finger at the self-sacrificing security forces. Ahmed Adil Mohamed Samsudeen was arrested in 2017 by New Zealand police. Cases have been filed in Auckland High Court on few counts for promoting Islamic terrorism through two Facebook accounts. But human rights activists and others have advocated for the freedom of speech of Ahmed Adil Mohammed Samsudeen. For that reason, the New Zealand security forces were limited only to follow the terrorist and wait until the terrorist attack to take action.

This is a situation that our country needs to pay close attention to. Following the arrest of the promoters of Islamic extremism, local and foreign human rights groups have been exerting intense pressure on the Sri Lankan government. In particular, lawyer Hijaz Hezbollah and Hanaf Jassim, also known as a poet, were pressured to be released. We urge the government to be vigilant in deciding on the arrests and future arrests of extremist terrorist threats and to act solely on the progress of investigations by the security forces without being influenced by any outside forces.

The challenge of identifying religious terrorism before the attack has now become a global problem. Reason is, the religious terrorist has been active in various forms since before he became active. This is clear from the joint press release issued by active Muslim organizations in Sri Lanka yesterday (2) condemning the New Zealand attack. Had Saharan been alive, he too would have issued a statement condemning the attack.

The statement was co-authored by 21 other Wahabi and Salafi ideological organizations, which introduced the concept of the “Khilafah” to make Sri Lanka a Muslim state in the 1950s, and even sent magazines justifying the suicide attacks that sent its members to the war in Afghanistan in the 1990s. By doing so, the white supremacy that had hitherto covered the nude of extremism has escaped and the nude of the extremists of Sri Lanka has been exposed to the whole world. Hajjul Akbar, who sowed the seeds of extremism in the country for 25 years as the leader of Jamaate Islam, is currently in custody for his extremist activities. It is noteworthy that the All Ceylon Jamayathul Ulama, as always, has led the way in immersing the innocent Muslims in this country in Wahabism. It is also a good example that the Sufi Star Council, which had hitherto worked with the All Ceylon Jamayathul Ulama, has escaped from that entity. We wish the Sufi Star Council the ability to save the Muslim community from the monster of Wahhabism and Salafism.

Bodu Bala Sena Challenge

Wahabism and Salafism are said to be the strongest ideologies that have led the world to call Islam a barbaric religion. Bodu Bala Sena challenge the said 22 organizations who made the joint statement to make a public statement as to that they “reject Wahhabism and Salafism”.

To put an end to Islamic extremism,

In order to stop the attacks in the name of Islam,
1. Wahhabism
2. Salafism
3. Ihwan ideology
4. Jamaate Islam ideology

Organizations with these ideologies including NGOs /welfare institutions / educational institutions should be banned and the implementation of such new organizations should also be banned.

Also, the importation / production / printed publications / audio-visual publications with these ideologies should be banned.

Action should be taken to ban the use of sermons and books related to these ideologies on the Internet.

Isolated attacks such as the New Zealand Auckland attack and planned attacks by extrimists such as the Easter attack in Sri Lanka will not be possible to end until the above measures are taken to put an end to Islamic extremism.

Bless the Triple Gem.

Rajakiya Panditha Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero.

Sri Lanka said on Friday it would bring in new laws to deter hoarding and increase penalties on traders to tackle food shortages caused largely by the country’s deteriorating forex reserves.

Shortages of essential foods including rice, sugar and milk powder in recent months pushed the government on Thursday to declare a food emergency, empowering authorities to seize stocks of staples and sell them at guaranteed prices.

Sri Lanka imports a large part of its food supplies and the shortages have in part been triggered by an imports ban due to the country’s dwindling foreign exchange reserves and a sharp depreciation in the rupee.

Production shortages and logistical bottlenecks due to a fresh wave of the COVID infections have also been factors.

“The price controls are essential at this time. But we hope they will not be long term. We do not see a food shortage in the country,” State Minister for Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna told the media.

The government will present a new law in parliament on Tuesday aimed at strengthening consumer protection and increasing penalties on errant traders, he added.

Alagiyawanna said Cabinet approval had already been given for importers to continue imports and expressed confidence that new stocks of essential items will reduce prices.

IMPORTERS WARY OF MEASURES

With the rupee having already lost 7.5% against the dollar so far this year, importers are worried price controls will further discourage imports.

“Commodity prices are increasing in global markets, so long- term domestic price controls are unfeasible. Currently banks are giving dollars for essential food items but unless the government steps in to manage the rupee it will be difficult to keep prices stable,” Essential Commodities Importers’ Association Chairman G. Rajendran said.

Rajendran estimated that Sri Lanka needs about $100 million for essential food imports each month for items such as lentils, sugar, onions, potatoes, spices and cooking oil.

Shop owners too are worried more stringent measures will impact them unfairly.

“We sell at the prices the wholesalers give us. Small shop owners also have to make a living and our margins are being squeezed so much we have almost nothing,” a grocery shop owner W.A. Jayasekera said.

Sri Lanka’s main opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), has said the government declared a food emergency in “bad faith” and “with an ulterior motive of further wrongfully restricting the fundamental rights of the citizenry”.

Alagiyawanna at the briefing rejected the claims made by the opposition and said the government was only working in the interests of the people.

The Sri Lankan Government must stop harassing and threatening journalists, government officials, doctors and social media users with legal actions for criticizing the State response to COVID-19, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said.

Former Spokesperson of the Health Ministry Dr. Jayaruwan Bandara was summoned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on 31 August regarding comments he made in a television interview on the high prices of COVID-19 tests and the general handling of the pandemic.

Previously, Dr. Najith Indika was also questioned by the CID for posting critical remarks on Facebook about the crisis at the Avisawella Hospital due to the increasing number of COVID-19 patients.

In April 2020 and subsequently in June 2021, the Police authorities announced that they would arrest those who spread false or derogating statements about officials combating the spread of the Covid-19 virus pursuant to provisions in the Computer Crimes Act (CCA), the Police Ordinance and Penal Code.

Several arrests have since been undertaken for posting allegedly false content on social media. This included the arrest of a university student who was subsequently detained for over a week for allegedly spreading a rumour that a special quarantine centre had been built for VIPs.

Sri Lanka presently does not have laws directly dealing with ‘fake news’ or false content online. Overbroad and poorly worded provisions of the Police Ordinance relating to ‘creating panic’, the CCA relating to ‘causing danger to public order’ and the Penal code regarding ‘exciting dissatisfaction’ are being misused to silence dissenters. It is noteworthy that most of these are cognizable offences that do not require an arrest warrant under Sri Lankan Law.

“The government’s intimidation of people who raises question about measures to respond to Covid-19 serve to undermine, not advance, efforts to stop the spread of the pandemic,” said Ian Seiderman, ICJ’s Legal and Policy Director. “The Sri Lankan government seems to be misusing regulations adopted to combat Covid-19 as a yet another means to restrict freedom of expression and information. This is a continuation of practices spanning far earlier than the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The right to freedom of expression is protected by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and by Article 14 of the Sri Lankan Constitution. While article 19 allows for some restriction of the right to meet a public health emergency, any restriction must be necessary and proportionate to the aim of protecting public health.

The UN Human Rights Committee has emphasized that “freedom of expression, access to information, and a civic space where a public debate can be held constitute important safeguards” for the appropriate application of emergency responses by States in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While there is a legitimate need to counter the spread of misinformation to protect public health during a pandemic, this objective must be provided by a clear and accessible law and pursued using the least intrusive means, rather than unnecessary and disproportionate measures, such as unwarranted arrests and police intimidation.

“The intimidation of government critics with the excuse of Covid-19 restrictions not only contravenes Sri Lanka’s international legal obligation to respect the right to freedom of expression and information, but it also undermines the right to health and the obligation to ensure access to health-related information and enable people to seek, receive and share information and ideas concerning health issues,” Seiderman said.