197th Day of the Main Easter Attack Trial – HC (TAB) 2972/21
Date: 01st June 2026|
Venue: Special Permanent Three-Judge High Court (Trial-at-Bar), 2nd Floor, MCC Building, Adhikarana Mawatha, Colombo 12.
The matter was taken up before the Trial-at-Bar. All accused were present, except the 17th accused, who had passed away. The 12th and 13th accused were represented by Mr Ravindu Yass AAL. While the 18th accused was represented by Mr. Kaneel Maddumage, AAL. Prosecution Witness No. 2231, Mohamed Ismail Mohamed Siad, Prosecution Witness No. 2232, Gnanamutthu Rathnasingham, and Prosecution Witness No. 2233, Seyyadu Ahmadu Asmiya were present before Court.
Prosecution Witnesses No. 2233 gave evidence-in-chief and testified that she attended to a session held over 2 days in Palamunai, where she identified the 1st, 2nd and 3rd accused as being present, along with Zahran Hashim. Prosecution Witnesses No. 2233 further testified that she attended 4 sessions conducted by Zainee in Kattankudy one of which was held at her house, testified that those sessions related to child protection and prevention of drug use. The Witness further testified that She knew Zahran Hashim’s family and that all members of his family had died except for Zahran Hashim’s wife and one of his sisters. The Witness was cross-examined by the 1st, 3rd and 14th accused.
The Prosecution Witness No. 2231, Mohamed Ismail Mohamed Siad gave evidence-in-chief and was cross-examined by the 3rd accused. The witness testified that he had been operating a gold jewellery business in Colombo and that he owned a land in Palamunai on which there were two buildings. He testified that he permitted the land to be used for community and family gatherings and further testified that, in 2018, the land had been given to a group of Muslims for a gathering while he was living in Colombo. He testified that he instructed Gnanamutthu Rathnasingham, who was acting as the watcher of the land, to handle the arrangements and collect money from them. The witness also testified that he did not maintain a register containing information of guests, that he had never met Zahran Hashim, and that he did not know him personally, although he was aware that Zahran had died in a suicide bomb explosion as it was widely discussed in his village.
Prosecution Witness No. 2232, Gnanamutthu Rathnasingham, gave evidence-in-chief and was not cross-examined by any of the accused. The witness testified that Mohamed Ismail Mohamed Siad had informed him that a group of Muslims wished to book the land for two days and had instructed him to deal with the arrangements. He further testified that he was unaware of what had taken place inside the two-storey building that had been given to them and that he had collected Rs. 10,000 from them.
The Prosecution further informed Court that Prosecution Witness No. 2230 was expected to give evidence from the Australian High Commission and that the Prosecution was ready to lead the evidence-in-chief on the following day. The Prosecution also informed Court that they expected to make several corrections relating to the proceedings of the voir dire inquiry of the 1st accused. Accordingly, Court ordered the Registrar to inform Counsel for the 1st accused to appear before Court on the following day.
The matter was fixed to be called again on 2nd June 2026 at 10.00 a.m. for further trial.
