A firm line A close associate of the ousted former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a Sri Lankan monk was sentenced to nine months in prison for promoting religious hate and insulting Islam.
For the 2016 comments, Galagodaatte Gnanasara was found guilty on Thursday.
Buddhist monks are rarely found guilty in Sri Lanka, but this is Gnanasara’s second jail sentence. He has been charged with hate crimes and anti-Muslim violence on multiple occasions.
The Colombo Magistrate’s Court sentencing follows a presidential pardon he obtained in 2019 for a six-year sentence for contempt of court and intimidation.
During a 2016 media conference, Gnanasara made a number of disparaging remarks about Islam, which led to his imprisonment in December.
