Sri Lanka Starts Burning Muslim COVID-19 Victims Instead of Burial

Staff Desk

December 10, 2020

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Sri Lanka states that it has started burning the bodies of the Muslim victims of the coronavirus, neglected the families’ objections against the compulsory policy.

Since October, the nation of the island has been going through a surge in Covid 19 cases, and the number of infections has increased since then, more than 29 thousand and 142 died.

Sri Lanka Burning Muslim COVID-19 Victims

Families claim the bodies of people who died due to coronavirus. Then they are burnt, which is strictly prohibited in Islamic law under the strict supervising of health authorities.

In Colombo’s capital, the families of 19 Muslims killed by the virus have rejected to claim the bodies from a morgue triggering a law to proceed with burning the bodies, which was issued by Attorney General Dappula De Lovers.

Police stated that on Wednesday, five were cremated.

Twelve petitions have been filed by the minority community and civil society groups in the supreme court because Muslims have challenged the policy.

Last week, the top court rejected the petitions without giving proper explanations and reasons why they made this decision.

Al Jazeera from Colombo was told by Rehab Mahamoor, a research assistant at Amnesty International, that Muslims’ burning bodies is prohibited and is against their religious beliefs.

Mahamoor further added that the international guidelines clearly say that Covid 19 victims’ bodies can be burnt or cremated, and Sri Lanka stands to use the pandemic to degrade the Muslim Community further.

The Muslim council tells of Sri Lanka that mostly the victims of the coronavirus were Muslims.

The community members feared to test for Covid if they got positive for Covid 19 because they did not want to get burnt, as told by the council spokesman.