Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe granted amnesty to more than 1,000 prisoners in prisons across the country in celebration of Christmas.
Sri Lankan Prison Ministry spokesman Gamini B. Dissanayake said 1,004 people, including 989 men and 15 women, were released on December 25 under a special amnesty. Among them were individuals who had been imprisoned for failing to pay fines.
Prisoners were released from a prison in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in February to celebrate the country's national day. Photo: Xinhua
Sri Lanka has a predominantly Buddhist population. In May, the country released a number of prisoners in celebration of Buddha's birthday.
The latest amnesty order comes after police arrested nearly 15,000 people in a week-long, military-backed anti-drug operation that paused on Christmas Eve. According to police statements, 13,666 suspects were arrested, and nearly 1,100 addicts were detained and sent to compulsory rehabilitation facilities run by the military.
The island nation's prisons are frequently overcrowded. According to official data, as of December 22, nearly 30,000 prisoners were being held in facilities with a capacity of 11,000.
Huyen Le (According to AFP, Xinhua )
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