Questions have cropped up about how confidential statements given before a magistrate in his chambers by two young children were leaked across all the media on Wednesday – May 13.

According to multiple Sinhala and English media reports that appeared on Wednesday including a screeching Page 1 lead story In the Ceylon Today newspaper owned by businessman-politico Tiran Alles two boys from a school in Puttalam have “told all” to the Colombo Fort Magistrate about extremist teachings and alleged “weapons training” given to students at the college.

Hejaaz Hizbullah

Serious doubts are being raised if the CID leaked the information to the press to cover their sins involving the framing of a Muslim attorney – Hejaaz Hizbullah – for involvement in the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019. A confession before a magistrate is a top-secret statement that can be used in trial unlike a confession made before a police officer. The police is not allowed to be present when the statement is being made.

Issuing a statement following the appearance of the news articles Hizbullah’s family said it was a “vile and vicious” media campaign aimed at prejudicing public opinion about the arrested attorney.

“We believe that this campaign is being carried out with the support of those involved in the investigation in order to justify their unlawful activities in arresting and detaining him. We believe this campaign has been unleashed to punish Hejaaz for the recent shocking disclosures made against the CID in certain Fundamental Rights cases in the Supreme Court,” the statement by the family of the attorney said. “We are shocked about media reports which claim to reveal the contents of confidential statements made by two child witnesses to a Magistrate. We are deeply perturbed how the police could claim to be aware of the contents of confidential statements, which were released to the media within a few hours” it added. [full letter published below]

Legal analysts said the leaks put the integrity of the confession before a magistrate into question and the matter was even more serious because it involved the rights of children. But the lawyers said this was not the first time the CID has tried to build a case in the newspapers when investigations reach a dead end and the department scrambles to frame criminal charges against persons considered to be enemies of the Government. The inspired leaks serve to try individuals in the court of public opinion even when the CID has no case against them.

According to some newspaper articles Hizbullah provided “weapons training” to the school in question. This is based on the so called “voluntary confessions” by two students.

The real story for the propaganda effort is the CID’s own faux pas that was recently exposed in the Supreme Court.

The media circus follows two fundamental rights cases filed in the Supreme Court by three minors through their parents which allege that the CID intimidated them into making false statements and signing them under duress. The petitions said that the CID had “taken the children in for questioning” at a location they could not identify and recorded their statements under duress on video. The coerced statements were an attempt to frame the lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah who was arrested by the CID on 14th April 2020 and has not been produced in a court of law since his detention. The school attended by the three petitioners and the boys who purportedly provided statements before a judge in chambers was a college for destitute Muslim boys funded by the charity Save the Pearls. Hizbullah the arrested lawyer was a trustee at the charity.

The attorney’s family in its statement released on May 15th said that the CID had initially said Hizbullah had been arrested over calls between himself and clients he had represented since 2009 – namely Yusuf Ibrahim the spice trader whose sons turned suicide bombers. Ibrahim was a respected Muslim businessman who had deep trade and political roots in Colombo society even claiming a position on the JVP’s proposed national list in 2015. His family’s involvement in the Easter bombings shocked many Muslims who had associated the family.

According to the statement, the CID was now casting aspersions on the Save the Pearls charity, which they claim is an entirely legitimate, well known and respectable organization providing welfare to people of all communities. “Members of “Save the Pearls” include respected retired and current civil servants, including the former Head of Counter Terrorism at the State Intelligence Services who has vouched for the work of “Save the Pearls” and Hejaaz’s involvement in it” the family’s statement said.

“What we do not wish to see is a one-sided trial by media: one in which false and diabolical stories about Hejaaz are spun and planted by his captors, who for one month have prevented Hejaaz from even communicating with his lawyers, including material evidence which he believes would exonerate him,” the statement from Hizbullah’s family added in relation to the media circus.

Statement by Family of Hejaaz Hizbullah:

We have been greatly disturbed by a vile and vicious media campaign being carried out against our husband and brother Hejaaz Hizbullah with the intention of prejudicing public opinion. We believe that this campaign is being carried out with the support of those involved in the investigation in order to justify their unlawful activities in arresting and detaining him.

We believe this campaign has been unleashed to punish Hejaaz for the recent shocking disclosures made against the CID in certain Fundamental Rights cases in the Supreme Court.

The Petitions reveal that police officers or those working under them threatened children after taking them away in the middle of the night and coercing them to testify falsely against Hejaaz. The lies about Hejaaz are too numerous to mention, including that Hejaaz, a busy and successful practitioner in the Hulftsdorp courts, was the Principal of a Madrasa in Puttalam.

We are shocked about media reports which claim to reveal the contents of confidential statements made by two child witnesses to a Magistrate. We are deeply perturbed how the police could claim to be aware of the contents of confidential statements, which were released to the media within a few hours. This in itself creates a serious doubt with respect to the investigation, and whether the statements attributed to the children were in fact made.

The CID, which initially said Hejaaz was arrested over calls between himself and persons who later transpired were his clients in old land cases pending since 2009, have now shifted to casting aspersions over the “Save the Pearls” charity. “Save the Pearls” was an entirely legitimate, well known and respectable organization providing welfare to people of all communities. It supports the Khettarama Temple, which continues to date. Members of “Save the Pearls” include respected retired and current civil servants, who have vouched for the work of “Save the Pearls” and Hejaaz’s involvement in it.

We have full confidence in the legal system in this country that Hejaaz served so well. What we do not wish to see is a one-sided trial by media: one in which false and diabolical stories about Hejaaz are spun and planted by his captors, who for one month have prevented Hejaaz from even communicating with his lawyers, including material evidence which he believes would exonerate him.

Since Hejaaz is unable to exercise a right of reply while he is held in detention, we request that you carry this statement in full as a response to the story about Hejaaz carried in the media on 13th May 2020.

Wife, brother and sister of Hejaaz Hizbullah