Sri Lanka Supreme Court revokes controversial monk’s presidential pardon — SkimNews
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- Sri Lanka's Supreme Court overturned a presidential pardon granted to Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero on September 10, 2026, ruling that then-President Maithripala Sirisena's 2019 clemency was "arbitrary" and "null and void"
- Gnanasara Thero, founder of the hardline Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) in 2012, was originally serving a prison term for contempt of court and criminal intimidation
- The pardon was challenged by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and Sandya Eknaligoda, wife of dissident cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda who was forcibly disappeared in 2010
- In January 2016, Gnanasara Thero stormed a courtroom and openly threatened Ms. Eknaligoda during a magistrate hearing into her disappeared husband's case
- Successor President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Gnanasara to a Presidential Task Force on legal reforms in 2021, a move widely criticized by rights defenders
- In 2024, the Colombo High Court sentenced Gnanasara to four years' rigorous imprisonment for fanning hatred against Muslims during a 2016 press conference; he was later granted bail
Why it matters: The court's explicit finding that Sirisena's pardon was "arbitrary" strips legal cover from a clemency that had nullified a contempt conviction. Gnanasara still faces a separate four-year 2024 sentence for anti-Muslim incitement — meaning this ruling removes one shield while another case proceeds, a tangible check on executive discretion in a country where the Buddhist clergy wield considerable political influence.
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