Sri Lankan Govt’s Probe Panel to Question Inmates in Prison Riot That Led to 11 Deaths

Sri Lankan probe panel, which has been set up to investigate the prison riot that left 11 inmates dead last month, will interrogate the inmates to figure out what led to the incident. The riot broke out on November 29 over rising coronavirus infections in the Mahara prison on the outskirts of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo when some inmates tried to escape, prompting the authorities to use force. The incident happened as pandemic-related unrest has been growing in Sri Lanka’s overcrowded prisons.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said they would seek medical consultant’s’ opinion on the alleged use of drugs prescribed for mental illness, thus making them violent. R de Silva, one of the…