Senior lawyer and NPP Executive Council member Lal Wijenayake passes away

Colombo Telegraph reports that Lal Wijenayake died in Kandy on the evening of October 31, 2026, aged 86. WhatNews (සිංහල) reports that he was taken to a private hospital in Kandy after becoming suddenly unwell and died there; it says his body was placed at a private funeral parlour near Kandy National Hospital for public respects.

Daily Mirror and Newswire report that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake paid his respects to Wijenayake in Kandy. Lankadeepa describes Wijenayake as a senior left-wing political activist and an executive council member of the National People’s Power. Ada Derana reports that his final rites were scheduled for that day, the day after his death.

Colombo Telegraph reports that Wijenayake joined the Lanka Sama Samaja Party as a university student in the early 1960s, later serving on its Politburo, and spent about 15 years as a provincial councillor, including as opposition leader in the first Central Provincial Council. The outlet says his legal practice lasted more than 52 years and included work for trade unions, plantation workers and the Ceylon Federation of Labour.

Daily Mirror reports that the Lawyers Collective expressed sorrow over his death and identifies him as a founding member of Lawyers for Democracy, from which the Collective later emerged. Colombo Telegraph reports that the Bar Association, Centre for Policy Alternatives and Lawyers Collective also issued statements of tribute.

Newswire reports that opposition leader Sajith Premadasa paid tribute, saying Wijenayake had worked with him to defend judicial independence despite their opposing political affiliations. Colombo Telegraph reports that a colleague recalled Wijenayake as a lawyer committed to public service and describes him as a poet who published two collections of verse.

Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.