The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Secretary, and extremist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, following his failure to appear for a scheduled hearing on a defamation case.
The case, which involves allegations of defaming Islam, had its verdict postponed to January 9, 2025, after Gnanasara's lawyer cited ill health as the reason for his absence. Colombo Additional Magistrate Pasan Amarasekara ordered the arrest to ensure the monk's presence at the next hearing.
Gnanasara, a controversial figure with a history of inflammatory remarks against Muslims and Tamils, has faced legal action previously and has been embroiled in numerous controversies over the years.
In 2014, before the anti-Muslim riots in Aluthgama, he incited violence by addressing a Sinhala nationalist crowd with inflammatory language, resulting in four deaths, 80 injuries, and hundreds displaced. Mosques, Muslim homes, businesses, and even a nursery were targeted during the riots.
In 2016, he made a series of anti-Muslim statements during a press conference, which were later deemed to provoke religious animosity intentionally. This led to his conviction by the Colombo High Court, where he was sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs. 100,000. The statements, made between November and December 2016, included threats that Muslims should vacate Kurugala (Jailani) before a specific deadline and implied that Vesak would be celebrated there only after their removal.
In 2020, he issued threats of violence against Tamils advocating for self-determination, warning of a "river of blood" in the North and East if demands for a separate state persisted.
In 2022, Colombo’s Chief Magistrate Court issued an arrest warrant after he ignored summons over hate speech charges. His past convictions include a six-month sentence for threatening Sandhya Eknaligoda, the wife of disappeared journalist and government critic Prageeth Eknaligoda, in 2010.