Sri Lanka’s ex-president hospitalized: Wickremesinghe rushed to ICU; condition now ‘stable’

Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe (AP image)

Sri Lanka’s jailed former president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was admitted to the intensive care unit at Colombo National Hospital on Saturday, a day after being charged with misusing government funds for foreign travel.The deputy director-general of hospital Rukshan Bellana said that Wickremesinghe was reportedly severely dehydrated and required close monitoring. The 76-years-old ex-president was remanded in custody on Friday night. “He has to be closely observed and treated for acute dehydration to prevent serious complications,” Bellana said. “He was a severe diabetic with high blood pressure when he was brought in.”Bellana added that the former president’s condition was “stable.”A prison official said that Wickremesinghe was taken to Sri Lanka’s main state-run hospital as his condition deteriorated and the prison medical facility was not equipped to treat him, as reported by news agency AFP. Earlier, opposition lawmakers visiting Wickremesinghe in prison reported that he remained in good spirits. Opposition parties have accused the government of detaining him out of fear he could return to power. Wickremesinghe, who lost the presidential election in September to Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has remained politically active despite holding no official position.He was arrested on Friday as part of President Dissanayake’s campaign against corruption in Sri Lanka, which is recovering from its worst economic crisis in 2022. Nalin Bandara, an opposition MP from Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party said Wickremesinghe urged unity to challenge the current government. “What the former president says is that we should get onto a common stage to fight the oppression of the new government,” Bandara said.The former Sri Lankan leader United National Party (UNP) also said the government acted out of fear of his political influence. UNP General Secretary Thalatha Athukorala told reporters, “They fear he might return to power, and that is why this action.”Wickremesinghe is accused of using state funds for a private trip to Britain in September 2023 while returning from the G77 summit in Havana and the UN General Assembly in New York. The alleged offences carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine up to three times the misappropriated amount, estimated at 16.6 million rupees ($55,000).His two-day trip to the UK was to attend the conferral of an honorary professorship on his wife, Maithree, by the University of Wolverhampton. Wickremesinghe has maintained that his wife covered all travel expenses and that no state funds were used.Wickremesinghe became president in July 2022 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned following months of street protests triggered by the country’s economic crisis.