{"id":209982,"date":"2020-04-29T02:55:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T21:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=209982"},"modified":"2020-04-29T13:57:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T08:27:01","slug":"pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Gotabaya+Rajapaksa\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> is mobilising a group of pro-Government lawyers to write to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka in order to prevent the professional body from acting to secure the rights of attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Hejaaz+Hizbullah\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Hejaaz Hizbullah<\/span><\/a> Colombo Telegraph learns.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_209828\" style=\"width: 910px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-209828\" class=\"size-full wp-image-209828\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah-300x158.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah-768x404.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-209828\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hejaaz Hizbullah<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The lawyers are to draft a letter to counter some of the urgent calls for action by the BASL signed by 200 lawyers on behalf of Hizbullah who has been detained illegally for nearly two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The BASL has maintained a deafening silence on the illegal arrest and detention of a member of its association apart from an extremely cordial letter handed over to the IGP the day after Hizbullah\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Shockingly the BASL has not moved a muscle since to secure Hizbullah\u2019s rights both as an attorney and a citizen of Sri Lanka. The President of the BASL is currently one of Sri Lanka\u2019s top criminal lawyers and a long time teacher of law Kalinga Indatissa PC.<\/p>\n<p>Under Indatissa the BASL became an advocacy arm for the Rajapaksa-led SLPP in the run up to the presidential election in 2019 opposing everything from the MCC grant to the pardon for Royal Park Killer Shramantha Jayamaha who has fled the country and intervening in the fundamental rights applications against the Easter Sunday attacks.<\/p>\n<p>However the Association has been extremely slow to react to situations where its own membership is being targeted by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration for harassment and now illegal arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Angered by growing pressure over Hizbullah\u2019s illegal detention both locally and internationally the President has secured support from friendly lawyers who are circulating a counter \u2013letter to the BASL with a spate of accusations against Hejaaz Hizbullah and towing the Government line.<\/p>\n<p>The Lawyer\u2019s family has filed a Habeas Corpus application before the Court of Appeal but no progress has been made so far. <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong><em>(By Chinthika De Silva)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":209828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-28T21:25:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-29T08:27:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/\",\"name\":\"Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-28T21:25:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-29T08:27:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":473,\"caption\":\"Hejaaz Hizbullah\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2020-04-28T21:25:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-29T08:27:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":473,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/","name":"Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg","datePublished":"2020-04-28T21:25:19+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-29T08:27:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg","width":900,"height":473,"caption":"Hejaaz Hizbullah"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pro-rajapaksa-lawyers-collecting-signatures-for-letter-to-basl-opposing-intervention-on-hejaaz-hizbullahs-behalf\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pro-Rajapaksa Lawyers Collecting Signatures For Letter To BASL Opposing Intervention On Hejaaz Hizbullah\u2019s Behalf"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hejaaz-Hizbullah.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209982"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210021,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209982\/revisions\/210021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}