Sri Lanka: amnesty of prisoners after bloody mutiny linked to Covid-19

Hundreds of prisoners in Sri Lanka have been amnestied and thousands more will be released after a bloody mutiny that left nine dead and 113 injured in one of the many overcrowded prisons where the Covid-19 spread on the night of Sunday 29 in Monday, November 30.

Read also: Mutiny due to Covid-19 in a Sri Lankan prison: eight dead

The mutiny in Mahara's prison near Colombo broke out overnight from Sunday to Monday, after more than 180 contaminations were counted, authorities said.

The prisoners demanded their release for fear of being in turn infected with the new coronavirus.

Guards from this high-security prison with some 10,000 inmates opened fire on the mutineers who had burned down the kitchens and an administrative building, and took two guards hostage, according to police.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday granted amnesty to 637 convicts nationwide and Justice Minister Ali Sabry said the government was working to speed up the release on bail of thousands of remand prisoners to reduce the prison overcrowding.

Rajapaksa also sacked the Minister of Prison Reforms, Sudharshini Fernandopulle, and transferred her to a new ministry dedicated to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

For weeks, Sri Lanka's prisons have been experiencing unrest that has erupted in protest against the conditions of imprisonment as cases of Covid-19 multiply and visits are banned.

Sri Lanka's prisons have just over 30,000 inmates, almost three times their capacity, and around 1,200 of them have been infected with the new coronavirus.

Two prisoners died from Covid-19, according to official figures.

The island of 21 million inhabitants deplores 118 deaths due to Covid-19 and nearly 24,000 contaminations.