Fifteen men have been convicted for their involvement in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings which killed more than 260 people in Sri Lanka.
Each was sentenced to 200 years in prison and had their property confiscated by order of the country’s High Court.
All the convicted men were from Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community. None of those believed to have directly participated in the attacks are alive.
On 21 April seven years ago, three churches and three hotels across Sri Lanka were attacked in a coordinated bombing during Easter services and celebrations.
Inspired by Islamic State terror attacks, they were among the deadliest incidents in the country’s history, killing 278 – including nine suicide bombers.
Around 500 people were injured in the bombings, and 42 foreign nationals – including eight from the UK – were killed.
Two Sri Lanka-based Islamic militant groups – National Thowfeek Jamaath and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim – were accused of carrying out the bombings.
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Some of the British nationals who died in the attacks were later named as Daniel Linsey, 19, and his 15-year-old sister Amelie.
Amelie and Daniel Linsey
Lorraine Campbell, 55, also died. She was staying at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel at the time of the attacks.
Lorraine Campbell (L)
Bill Harrop and Sally Bradley were also staying at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel at the time, and died in the explosion.
Bill Harrop and Sally Bradley. Pic: Facebook
Anita, Alex and Annabel Nicholson – 42, 14 and 11 respectively – died when the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo was targeted.
Ben Nicholson with his wife Anita, son Alex, and daughter Annabel
Early intelligence warnings ignored
Police said there were warnings from international intelligence agencies as early as 4 April, with the defence ministry writing to the police chief five days later.
On 11 April, police wrote to the heads of security of the judiciary and the diplomatic security division, a government spokesman said. It’s not clear what action was taken.
A parliamentary committee later found that police and intelligence officials failed to act on repeated intelligence warnings of the attacks.
In July this year, a former police chief and a former senior defence ministry official were also sentenced to death for failing to act promptly on foreign intelligence warnings of possible attacks.
Sri Lanka has not carried out executions since 1976, meaning death sentences typically result in life imprisonment.
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Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has claimed, without providing evidence, that those identified so far as perpetrators are not the masterminds behind the bombings, and that there was a bigger conspiracy behind the attacks.
After the bombings, allegations emerged that the attackers had links to Sri Lanka’s state intelligence services.
The country’s defence ministry has denied any involvement.
