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The 24 accused including Naufer Moulavi were transported to the Hulftsdorp High Court on Tuesday under heavy security as the three-judge bench convened to deliver its ruling in the long-running terrorism case. Justices Navaratne Marasinghe, Ramanadan Kannan and Sujeewa Nishshanka are expected to pronounce judgment after the prosecution wrapped up its evidence presentation last month. Newswire reported that special police teams were stationed around the court premises to prevent any disturbances on the day of the verdict. The trial had originally involved 25 defendants but one died while in custody reducing the number facing charges to the current total.
Coordinated suicide bombings on April 21, 2019 targeted three churches during Easter masses and three upscale hotels in and around Colombo in the worst attack since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war. The assaults killed at least 270 people including foreign tourists and injured more than 500 others according to a BBC assessment. Local Islamist group National Thowheed Jamath carried out the attacks with the Islamic State claiming responsibility a fact corroborated across multiple subsequent investigations reported by Reuters.
Prosecutors leveled more than 23,270 charges against the defendants who include associates and relatives of the nine suicide bombers for offenses ranging from conspiracy and murder to illegal weapons possession. The proceedings heard from 547 witnesses and reviewed more than 2,000 pieces of evidence including chemicals, firearms and DNA reports a Newswire tally showed. Moulavi stands accused as the chief organizer and the court had accepted his earlier confession before he disavowed it during hearings claiming he had not understood the document he signed.
A related negligence case concluded in July 2026 saw former police chief Pujith Jayasundara and former defence ministry secretary Hemasiri Fernando sentenced to death for failing to heed intelligence alerts that could have prevented the bombings. AP News reported the 2-1 majority verdict by another three-judge panel with the dissenting judge arguing for acquittal on grounds the officials had no direct links to the perpetrators. Both men who were previously cleared in 2022 have signaled their intent to appeal the convictions that stem from a parliamentary finding of security lapses.
Sri Lanka has observed a moratorium on carrying out executions since 1976 meaning any death sentences would almost certainly be commuted to life terms a point reiterated in coverage by Al Jazeera. Victims’ families and members of the Catholic community have maintained regular protests seeking comprehensive accountability with some church officials asserting that the full conspiracy behind the attacks has yet to be uncovered. A parallel inquiry into former intelligence official Suresh Sallay remains ongoing as authorities also move to seize assets of the bombers under anti-terror financing statutes the Sunday Times noted.
The case has spanned more than 547 hearing days since its start in October 2022 and forms a central part of efforts to address the lasting impact of the 2019 violence on Sri Lanka’s Christian minority and tourism sector. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has publicly committed to pursuing those responsible for security failures in line with broader reform pledges reported by Reuters. The verdict is anticipated to bring some measure of closure to survivors while highlighting unresolved questions about potential higher-level involvement in the plot.
