The grief-stricken family of Zubair Fathima Rinosa in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo is demanding justice and explanation after the 44-year-old deceased Muslim woman turned out to have been COVID-19 negative two days after her body was cremated.
Mohammed Sajid, one of Rinosa's four sons, said his mother was cremated on May 5 as part of Sri Lanka's controversial policy of mandatory cremation of all coronavirus victims in violation of traditional Islamic funeral practice.
He says his brother signed a consent form for cremation under duress from authorities.
However, two days later, Rinosa's test results showed she did not die of coronavirus. "On May 7, we learned through a media release that there had been an error in the initial testing of my mother for the virus. She did not die of COVID-19," he said.
Sajid said his father cried "painfully" after it emerged that his mother was "wrongfully" cremated.
"My father was crying nonstop. He kept saying: 'I can accept someday that she is gone, but not that she was cremated'."
'Against basic religious right'
Three of the nine who have died from the disease are Muslims. All of them were cremated, which goes against the Islamic tradition of burying the dead.
The Buddhist-majority south Asian island nation originally agreed on burials but amended the guidelines on April 11 making cremations of COVID-19 victims mandatory - a step Muslims say deprives them of their basic religious right.
"The family is grieving, not only have they lost her, but they have also been deprived of the basic religious right of burial. They were also treated very badly by the authorities," Ali Zahir Moulana, former Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) parliamentarian, told Al Jazeera.
"We urge the authorities to take all relevant precautionary measures in a way that does not dehumanise individuals."
The island nation's top Ulama body urged the government to allow the burial.
"We wish to reiterate that the Muslim community stand on this matter has always been that, a Muslim deceased due to COVID-19, should have the option of being buried, in line with the WHO guidelines and as implemented in more than 180 countries, since it is an integral part of our faith and a religious obligation of the community towards the deceased," All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama said in a statement.
Prominent Muslim activists and personalities have expressed their concerns against the ban on burials which they see as part of anti-Muslim rhetoric amid the pandemic.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's Counsel Ali Sabry said the government's cremation order was in disregard to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
"If the decision-makers, having considered all facts and aspects and have reached a decision based on scientific, medical or logical concerns, I have no issues with it and people must comply with it," he told Al Jazeera.