Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara on Thursday, January 9, has been sentenced to nine months in prison for making derogatory remarks against Islam and inciting religious enmity.
This is the second occasion he has faced legal consequences for his hate speech targeting Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority.
The current sentencing relates to inflammatory remarks Gnanasara made during a media conference in 2016 fueled with anti-Muslim sentiments, Dawn reported.
In addition to imprisonment, the Colombo Magistrate’s Court also fined him 1,500 Sri Lankan rupees (approximately five US dollars) with the additional possibility of another month’s imprisonment if the said fine is not paid.
Gnanasara has been involved in several scandals and has faced trials many times before. He was a confidante of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and was appointed as the head of the committee set up to recommend changes to Sri Lanka’s legal structure to protect religious diversity in 2021.
This appointment received a lot of criticism with an opposition lawmaker Shanakiyan Rasamanickam tweeting it as the definition of irony.
Gnanasara, known for his close association with Wirathu, an extremist monk from Myanmar, has faced allegations of instigating violence against Muslims in Sri Lanka, where about 10 per cent of the population follows Islam.
This is not the first time Gnanasara has been incarcerated. In 2018, he was sentenced to six years for intimidating the wife of a missing cartoonist and for contempt of court.
However, he was released after nine months when former President Maithripala Sirisena granted him a pardon.
