COLOMBO: Sri Lanka freed an opposition Muslim political leader from police custody without charge after detaining him earlier in the week under a tough anti-terrorism law, his lawyer said yesterday.
Azath Sally, 49, the former deputy mayor of Colombo, was arrested on Sunday in what the minority Muslim community described as the latest attack on them in the Buddhist-dominated island nation.
Sally, leader of the Muslim National Unity Alliance, was released on Friday after a 90-day detention ordered by President Mahinda Rajapaksa was revoked.
“No charges have been pressed and he was released after negotiations with the defence ministry,” his lawyer Shiraz Noordeen said.
Sally was in hospital yesterday following a hunger strike he launched in protest over his arrest under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
AFP
