Colombo, Oct 13:
Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was admitted to a hospital on Monday for urgent medical care and is being kept under observation in the intensive care unit (ICU), his political party said. The 80-year-old leader was hospitalised in the morning, according to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). No further details about his condition were immediately disclosed.
Rajapaksa served as Sri Lanka’s President from 2005 to 2015 and later as Prime Minister. He remains a prominent figure in the country’s politics, particularly among sections of the electorate that supported his leadership during the final phase of the civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended in 2009.
His hospitalisation comes at a difficult time for his family, with investigations and legal proceedings involving close relatives. His elder son, Namal Rajapaksa, a parliamentarian and senior SLPP figure, was remanded in September in connection with an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing. His wife, Shiranthi Rajapaksa, was also remanded in a separate case involving alleged misuse of public funds. The allegations remain subject to legal proceedings.
The Rajapaksa family’s political fortunes declined sharply during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis in 2022. Widespread public protests over shortages of essential goods, rising prices and economic mismanagement forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Mahinda’s younger brother, to leave office.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, elected in 2024 on an anti-corruption platform, has pledged to pursue allegations of corruption and misuse of public funds involving figures from previous administrations.
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s hospitalisation has drawn attention because of his long political career and the continuing legal scrutiny surrounding members of his family. Further information about his condition is awaited from his party or medical authorities.