'Trivial charges': Shashi Tharoor condemns arrest of former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe

Shashi Tharoor

Voicing concern over the arrest of former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor described the charges against him as "trivial" and urged the Sri Lankan government to refrain from "politics of vengeance".

"Concerned about the detention of former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickramasinghe on what, on the face of it, seem trivial charges. His health issues have already seen him taken to the prison hospital," Tharoor, a former diplomat, wrote on X while sharing an old photograph with the leader.

Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Saturday sent to the National Hospital from Colombo’s Magazine Prison, a day after he was arrested on charges of misusing public funds. Wickremesinghe, who was remanded in custody on Friday night, was severely dehydrated and required close monitoring, the deputy director-general of Colombo National Hospital told AFP.

In an appeal to the Sri Lankan government, Tharoor wrote: "I call on the government of Sri Lanka -- while fully respecting that this is their internal matter -- to abjure the politics of vengeance and treat their former President with the respect and dignity that he deserves, after his decades of service to the nation."

Concerned about the detention of former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickramasinghe on what, on the face of it, seem trivial charges. His health issues have already seen him taken to the prison hospital. I call on the government of Sri Lanka -- while fully respecting that this is… pic.twitter.com/ojuEfEu4FG

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 23, 2025

Wickremesinghe lost the last presidential election in September to Anura Kumara Dissanayake, but has remained politically active despite holding no elected position.

He was arrested on Friday as part of Dissanayake's campaign against endemic corruption in the island nation, which is emerging from its worst economic meltdown in 2022.  Wickremesinghe  is accused of using state funds to finance a private visit to Britain in September 2023, while returning from attending the G77 summit in Havana and the UN General Assembly in New York.