Sri Lanka Convicts 15 Over Easter Bombings

A Sri Lankan High Court convicted 15 men of conspiring to support the Islamic State-inspired Easter Sunday bombings in 2019, which targeted three churches and three hotels and killed more than 260 people, including 42 foreigners, while injuring about 500. The men received sentences ranging from 200 to 260 years in prison, effectively life terms, and their property was ordered confiscated. Nine other defendants were acquitted for insufficient evidence, while the suicide bombers died in the attacks. The nearly five-year trial involved more than 23,000 charges under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act. The case remains controversial, with the Catholic Church alleging a wider conspiracy and investigations finding that officials failed to act on intelligence warnings; a former police chief and senior defense official were sentenced to death in July over that failure, although Sri Lanka has not carried out an execution since 1976.