The Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has acknowledged voicing objection to the appointment of Ali Sabry as the Minister of Justice under the previous government.
Responding to questions raised by reporters, the Archbishop explained that they had raised objections keeping in mind that the probe into the 2019 Easter attacks falls under the purview of the Justice Ministry.
He further said that the decision was taken not only based on the race or religion of Ali Sabry but also based on other contributing factors.
The Archbishop also noted that, however, they have not objected to Ali Sabry’s appointment as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“We did object to Ali Sabry being appointed as Justice Minister. A prominent Buddhist monk informed me about the appointment and inquired if this was a good move. Based on this I voiced my objection to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa,” he said
He said concerns were initially raised on the appointment as it was thought that the Easter Sunday attacks were carried out by a certain religious group, which could influence Ali Sabry as he is from the same religion.
“We were concerned that this might result in impacting the independent inquiry into the Easter attacks,” he said.
The Archbishop accepted that, however, they changed their stance when it was found out that there was another conspiracy behind the Easter attacks. (NewsWire)