A complaint has been lodged with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) over an incident of Mohamed Abdul Cader Mohamed Azeem, who is the brother-in-law of the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019, Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zahran alias Zahran Hashim, and the former’s wife Mohamed Ziham Fathima, being arrested by the Police, allegedly without a proper charge.
The arrestees including Azeem and Fathima have been arrested by the Kochchikade Police on 9 April, and have subsequently been remanded by the Negombo Magistrate’s Court.
Speaking to The Daily Morning, a family member said that Azeem was recently released after spending several years in prison in connection with the Easter Sunday terror attacks. The duo has come to Fathima’s mother’s house in Kochchikade, Negombo from their residence in Narammala. He said that they (Azeem and Fathima) usually come to that house once a month, spend a few days and then leave.
“While they were sleeping in that house, the Kochchikade Police came at around 12.30 a.m. (00:30 hours) and told them that it was not safe for them to stay there. The Police had asked them to come to the Police Station. Then, they had asked the lawyer and gone to the Police Station as they had done nothing wrong. In the morning, the Police had said that they could go home after being produced before the Court formally. However, the Police had reported to the Court that it was suspicious that they had come to Negombo for some suspicious activity on Easter Sunday (which fell on 9 April),” he claimed.
The B report submitted by the Police to the Court regarding the two suspects, which was seen by The Daily Morning, states that based on the information given by two officers of the Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU), the house where the two suspects were staying was searched on 9 April. It is also stated that during the interrogation, it was revealed that the male suspect is Zahran’s brother-in-law and that he was in prison for three years in connection with the Easter Sunday terror attacks. The B report states that the suspects were arrested on suspicion that they had come to carry out a disruptive or destructive act in connection with the services held in the churches in the area on Easter Sunday.
It further states that the Criminal Investigations Department, the Terrorism Investigation Division, the SIU, and the Intelligence agencies have been asked over the phone as to whether the two suspects are wanted for any crime and whether there are any pending cases against them. Accordingly, the Police has requested the Court to remand them until 20 April till the investigations regarding them are completed and reported to the Court. Taking that request into consideration, the Negombo Acting Magistrate has ordered the remand of the suspects until the relevant case is recalled on 20 April. The Court has also ordered the Prison authorities to provide necessary medical facilities to the female suspect who is pregnant.
Meanwhile, a relative of the family told The Daily Morning that a complaint has been submitted to the HRCSL regarding the arrest of the duo, purportedly for no reasonable reason. He also mentioned that the two persons in question came to Negombo only to sell a stock of maize that they had grown and to spend a few days at the female arrestee’s mother’s house.
Attempts to contact Police Media Spokesman, Senior Superintendent of Police and Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa proved futile.
The St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade was the site of a suicide bomb attack on 21 April 2019.