Burning Faith

Tomb of the Sufi saint Sheikh Usman Waliyullah. Dewatagaha Mosque, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and Die Zeit in June 2023.

^{• 70mm • f/2.8 • 1/100 • ISO800 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

Betel Seller #2

Oddamavadi, Sri Lanka. October 2023.

^{• 35mm • f/4 • 1/320 • ISO200 • Canon R6 & RF14-35/4L •}

Overture to Twilight

Galle Fort ramparts, Sri Lanka. January 2022. Shot on assignment for Panos Pictures and The Global Fund.

^{• 50mm • f/4 • 1/500 • ISO400 • 5DMkIV & EF 24-105/4L courtesy Canon/Metropolitan}

Lost in the Fire

Mohammed Jaleel, with his son, Jamseer, holds up an old family portrait of his wife. Her body was confiscated by the state and burned in 2020, after health authorities decided she had died of COVID-19, and that burial would pose a risk to the public. Islam forbids the cremation of the dead, but in early 2020, Sri Lanka legislated a ‘cremation only’ policy for all pandemic casualties, regardless of religious sensitivities, and in spite of World Health Organisation directives permitting burial. On 1st December 2020, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court blocked petitions challenging the policy, and the forcible cremations continued in spite of protests by religious groups and human rights organisations. The law was eventually suspended in February 2021, but too late for hundreds of Muslim families who had the bodies of their loved ones – including young children and babies – seized by the authorities and burned. Shot in Kandy, in January 2024, for the soon to be published Oddamavadi Project.

^{• 24mm • f/8 • 1/100 • ISO500 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

Voice of Reason

Professor AH Sheriffdeen, one of a team of eight high-ranking medical doctors and scientists who made as many as three representations to the Sri Lankan Health Ministry in 2020, urging it to drop its ‘cremation only’ policy on the disposal of Covid dead. The representations were ignored by the government, which continued the forcible cremations, deeming burial unsafe, despite WHO assurances. The legislation was suspended only in February 2021, as a result of strenuous protests by religious groups and human rights organisations. Cremation is forbidden to Muslims, and the Sri Lankan government’s dismissal of all scientific evidence supporting the permissibility of burial is seen by most observers as an act of institutional racism against the country’s minority Muslims. Shot at Professor Sheriffdeen’s Colombo residence in February 2024, for the soon to be published Oddamavadi Project.

^{• 60mm • f/2.8 • 1/40 • ISO160 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

Victims of the Fire

In her little Maligawatte home, Nona Farida describes how the body of her husband was confiscated by the state and burned in 2020, after health authorities decided he had died of COVID-19, and that burial would pose a risk to the public. Islam forbids the cremation of the dead, but in early 2020, Sri Lanka legislated a ‘cremation only’ policy for all pandemic casualties, regardless of religious sensitivities, and in spite of World Health Organisation directives permitting burial. On 1st December 2020, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court blocked petitions challenging the policy, and the forcible cremations continued in spite of protests by religious groups and human rights organisations. The law was eventually suspended in February 2021, but too late for hundreds of Muslim families who had the bodies of their loved ones – including babies as young as three weeks – seized by the authorities and burned. Shot in December 2023, for the soon to be published Oddamavadi Project.

^{• 70mm • f/2.8 • 1/100 • ISO800 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

Injustice

SLPP MP Ali Sabry, Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs in President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government. From August 2020 to May 2022, Sabry served on the cabinet of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and was Minister of Justice on 1st December 2020 when the Sri Lankan Supreme Court refused to allow a challenge to the government legislation that ordered the forcible cremation of Muslim COVID-19 victims. The ‘cremation only’ policy continued until 26th February 2021. Shot at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December 2023, for the soon to be published Oddamavadi Project.

^{• 70mm • f/2.8 • 1/80 • ISO320 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

The Gravedigger

Oddamavadi, Sri Lanka. October 2023. Shot for the soon to be published Oddamavadi Project.

^{• 70mm • f/2.8 • 1/40 • ISO250 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

Refuge from the Pyre #4

A young Muslim man visits the grave of a loved one buried in Oddamavadi, in eastern Sri Lanka. When the country’s authorities finally ceased, in 2021, the forcible cremation of Covid-19 dead, almost three thousand Muslim victims of the pandemic were allowed to be buried in this designated cemetery in Oddamavadi, in the Batticaloa District. Visits by families of the dead are arduous and expensive, as the site was selected for its remoteness, and has become a pilgrimage of sorts. Shot in February 2024, for the soon to be published Oddamavadi Project.

^{• 70mm • f/2.8 • 1/2000 • ISO100 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}

The Widow

Ferial Ashraff; former National Unity Alliance member of parliament, minister in the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge government, and widow of the NUA and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress founder, MHM Ashraff. Colombo, February 2024.

^{• 70mm • f/2.8 • 1/320 • ISO100 • Canon R6 & RF24-70/2.8L •}