Hizbullah’s Family Decries “Vicious” Media Campaign After Confidential Statements Provided To Judge Leaked!
Hejaaz Hizbullah
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.
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.
