Ali Sabry wins TOYP 2009 award for Law

Well-known civil lawyer M.U.M. Ali Sabry was recently awarded the prestigious Jaycees TOYP 2009 award (Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the Year) for the category Law.

A product of Kalutara Muslim Maha Vidyalaya and Zahira College Colombo Sabry enjoys a lucrative and voluminous practice in original and appellate courts specializing in civil law.

In the recent past Sabry has appeared in many landmark cases including a ground breaking action brought in for Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, wherein he successfully obtained an interim injunction preventing Sunday Leader from continuing to defame his character, a clear departure from hitherto known remedy of post publication action for damages.

In a series of action brought in for Rohitha Bogollagama, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene, Neomal Perera and Abdul Baiz all members of Parliament, Sabry successfully challenged their expulsion process from the party in the original court as pre-emptive action to prevent expulsion from the Parliament virtually opening a new jurisprudence in the arena.

A skillful exponent of the Constitutional remedies for the betterment for the society, Sabry successfully invoked the writ jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal to prevent gem mining in tea estates to preserve the Minneriya forest reservation to put a halt to construction of motels in the Horton Planes and to preserve the Uma Oya in Badulla District for the future generation.

Committed to transcending boundaries and opening new vistas in his chosen field, Sabry voluntarily withdrew all technical objections which could have otherwise taken to permit a witness in United States to testify in a Sri Lankan court via video conference opening a new chapter in Sri Lankan judicial history.

Thus Sabry became the first Counsel to cross examine a witness via internet, in a Sri Lankan court. The versatility in Sabry as a lawyer was brought in to limelight in a recent significant intellectual property right case, to prevent the publication and sale of the book Neththa Wenuwata Aththa (inside story of the JVP power struggle) authored by Wimal Weerawansa MP. The action brought in lime with famous English case of Ashdown Vs. Telegraph Group Limited is considered as a milestone in intellectual property jurisprudence in the country.

Meaningfully expanding accountability and transparency towards the private sector, he brought an action against the Touchwood management alleging insider dealing in the share trading and an action against Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) for breach of duty of care relating to the same saga, perhaps first of its kind in the country.

A much sought after civil practitioner Sabry appeared in several other leading civil cases in the recent past such as Gunadasa Kapuge damages case, Fedrick Obeysekara last will case, Upali Wijeyawardena property case, Television Regulation case, Waters Edge compensation case, Edna Melamine case and Multivision licence case etc.

During his Law College days Sabry was the General Secretary of the Law Students’ Union and the deputy leader of the Sinhala debating team.

A former diplomat Sabry was the Sri Lankan Consul General in Jeddah Saudi Arabia during 1997-2000 and the founder of the Sri Lanka International School in Jeddah. He was also a Board Director of the National Youth Services Council and led the Sri Lankan delegation to the 8th Ship for World Youth (Nippon Maru). Sabry is the current Treasurer of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. Previous winners of the prestigious award in the category include Romesh De Silva PC and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC, MP.

Sabry is the son of late M.S.M. Uvais and Zareena Uvais of ‘Mudaliyar Villa’ Katukurunda, Kalutara.