Sri Lankan firebrand monk jailed for anti-Muslim remarks

By AFP
January 10, 2025
Firebrand monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara. —Reuters/File

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court jailed a politically influential, firebrand Buddhist monk on Thursday, putting him behind bars for a second time for insulting Islam and stoking religious hatred in the island nation.

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Galagodaatte Gnanasara was sentenced on Thursday to nine months for his anti-Muslim remarks, which date to 2016.

He was previously jailed last year on a similar charge of disparaging Sri Lanka´s minority Muslims, who account for just over about 10 percent of the 22 million population. He was on bail while appealing that four-year sentence.

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