Born in Kalutara[citation needed] to M.S.M Uvais and Zareena Uvais, Sabry was educated at Kalutara Muslim Central College and Zahira College, Colombo. He entered Sri Lanka Law College where he was a notable student leader and was elected General Secretary of the Law Students’ Union, elected President of the SLFP Law Students’ Union and also led the Law College Sinhala debating team. He was admitted to the Sri Lankan bar as an Attorney-at- Law in 1995.[15]
Family
Ali Sabry is married to Sarah Sabry and they have three children, namely Bilal Sabry, Talal Sabry and Jamal Sabry. Bilal Sabry is a graduate from the prestigous University of California, Berkeley.
Legal career
Having qualified as an attorney at law, Sabry joined the Unofficial Bar and developed a lucrative practice in original and appellate courts specializing in civil law. He served as Sri Lankan Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and represented Sri Lanka in many International conferences including the Human Rights Session in the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2012. He was the treasurer of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and Chairman of the Junior Bar Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. In 2012 he was appointed a President's Counsel.[15] At the time of his appointment he was the youngest ever President's Counsel.
He campaigned for Gotabaya Rajapakse during the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election and urged the Muslim community to vote for him to form a stable government following the pressure on the community aftermath the 2019 Easter attacks.[20][21]
He entered the mainstream politics in 2020 and became a member of SLPP.[22] In July 2020, he was appointed as the national leader of the SLPP party's Muslim Federation by the President.[23][24][25]
On 4 April 2022, he was part of the temporary four member cabinet which was formed following the resignation of 26 cabinet ministers from their ministerial portfolios in wake of the economic crisis and protests.[30] He was also one of the 26 ministers to resign but was given a new ministry by the President soon afterwards so he was part of the temporary cabinet.[31] The following day, on 5 April 2022 he quit the temporary cabinet by resigning from the finance ministry which was handed over to him in the new temporary cabinet.[32][33][34][35][36] But, later on 8 April 2022, he informed the House that he would continue as the Finance Minister because the President did not accept his resignation and served until his government was dissolved on 9 May 2022.[37] He was appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs replacing G. L. Peiris on 22 July 2022.
