Christmas Amnesty / Over 1,000 prisoners are released in Sri Lanka

Illustrative photo

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe granted a Christmas amnesty to 1,004 convicts across the country on Monday, a prison official told AFP.

The prison commissioner, Gamini Dissanayake, said the released prisoners were jailed because they were unable to pay outstanding fines.

The Sri Lanka Daily News said that of the prisoners to be released, 989 were male and 15 were female.

Sri Lanka also released convicts in May to mark Vesak, the festival celebrating the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha.

The latest pardon came after police arrested nearly 15,000 people during a week-long military-backed anti-narcotics crackdown that was called off on Christmas Eve.

Authorities said 13,666 suspects were arrested and nearly 1,100 drug users were detained and sent for mandatory rehabilitation at a military-run facility, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

Sri Lanka's prisons are overcrowded./ CNA

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