Former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe has been granted bail after he was arrested last week over allegations that he misused state funds to finance a private trip to London during his presidency.

Former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe has been remanded in custody until 26 August, following a decision by the Colombo Fort Magistrates’ Court this evening.

He was escorted to Welikada prison in handcuffs by Sri Lankan police officers this evening after his bail application was denied.

Sri Lankan politicians across the political spectrum flocked to the Colombo Fort Magistrates’ Court today as former president Ranil Wickremesinghe appeared before proceedings linked to his arrest over the alleged misuse of state funds.

Sri Lanka’s political establishment has been thrown into controversy after opposition MPs questioned how a ruling regime linked YouTuber appeared to predict the arrest of former president Ranil Wickremesinghe in advance.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of National Security, Ananda Wijepala, told Parliament today that “no one is above the law,” minutes after news broke that former president Ranil Wickremesinghe had been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe has been arrested after arriving at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Colombo today to record a statement in connection with an ongoing investigation.

Sri Lanka’s former president Maithripala Sirisena has claimed that the “masmtermind” behind the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings is already well known to the Sri Lankan government, military, and intelligence services, but remains untouchable.

At least 88 skeletal remains have been excavated at a mass grave within the Colombo Port premises, officials confirmed this week, as yet even more bodies are recovered from another mass grave on the island.

Sri Lankan security forces continue to harass Tamil families of the disappeared and weaponise counterterrorism laws against Tamil activists and journalists, despite promises of reform, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned this week.

Over 200 people, including families of the disappeared, gathered earlier this month in Jaffna to view dozens of items of evidence exhumed from the Chemmani mass graves.

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, has expressed concern over the interrogation of Tamil journalist and human rights defender Kanapathipillai Kumanan by Sri Lanka’s Counter Terrorism and Investigation Division (CTID).

Sri Lanka is once again seizing on foreign conflicts to export its labour force, as Thailand announced it will recruit 10,000 Sri Lankan workers to fill shortages caused by the mass return of Cambodian labourers following deadly border clashes.

Tamil American organisations have called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to recognise the struggle of the Eelam Tamils as an unresolved case of decolonisation, warning that decades of inaction have entrenched impunity for genocide and denied justice to survivors.

An Israeli tourist was injured in Arugam Bay after leaping from a moving tuk-tuk to escape an attempted robbery, in an incident that has again drawn attention to the presence of Israeli tourists on the island.