Mahinda Rajapakse sacks Sri Lanka's first woman top judge

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has sacked the chief justice by ratifying a controversial parliamentary vote, defying international calls for restraint and plunging the country into a constitutional crisis.

Dr Shirani Bandaranayake, the first woman to hold the office of top judge, had issued several decisions at odds with the government. Rajapakse dismissed her after a closed-door meeting with other judges on Saturday, a presidential spokesman said.

The move came despite mounting calls on the president to halt the impeachment, which is seen by rights groups and Western nations as a blow to judicial independence in a country just emerging from decades of ethnic war.

Parliament voted on Friday to approve an impeachment report that had been quashed by the country's highest courts on January 7, which ruled that the process was unconstitutional. The United States and Britain expressed deep concern at the vote.

"The president this morning signed the letter removing Shirani Bandaranayake from the office of chief justice," Rajapakse's spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said. "The letter was hand delivered to her by a secretary accompanied by presidential security staff."

The Commonwealth had asked Rajapakse on Saturday to reflect on the "constitutional and other ramifications" at a time when Sri Lanka is preparing to host the 54-member group's next heads of government summit later this year.

A spokesman for Bandaranayake confirmed that she received the letter sacking her yesterday, but declined to comment. No replacement has been named by the government.