- Sri Lanka has a Buddhist majority and a similar number of convicts were released in May to mark the Vesak holiday.
- A police report said 13,666 suspects were arrested and nearly 1,100 drug addicts were detained and sent to a military-run facility for forced rehabilitation.
- According to official data, facilities designed to hold 11,000 held nearly 30,000 prisoners.
Among the 1,004 released on Monday were Sri Lankans who had been jailed for failing to pay arrears, Prisons Commissioner Kamini Dissanayake said.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has granted amnesty to more than 1,000 convicts and released them from prisons across the country in time for Christmas, a prison official said on Monday.
More than 1,000 convicts released from prisons
Sri Lanka has a Buddhist majority and a similar number of convicts were released in May to mark the Vesak holiday, which celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.
The latest pardon came after police arrested nearly 15,000 people during a week-long military-backed anti-drug operation that ended on Christmas Day.
A police report said 13,666 suspects were arrested and nearly 1,100 drug addicts were detained and sent to a military-run facility for forced rehabilitation. The island nation’s prisons continue to overflow.
As of Friday, there have been nearly 30,000 inmates in facilities designed to maintain 11,000 according to legit statistics.According to official data, facilities designed to hold 11,000 held nearly 30,000 prisoners.
