Release Tissainayagam and all

political prisoners now!

FOR THE FREEDOM OF TISSAINAYAGAM………….

Seminar and book launching ceremony
12th November 2009 – 03.00 pm
in
Public Library Auditorium
Colombo

Coments -

Fr. Yohan Devananda
Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda
Fr. M. Sathivel
Dr. Vickramabahu Karunarathne – Left Front
Vasantha Disanayake – People’s March
Mahinda Devage – Socialist Party
Ajith Rupasinghe – Communist Party – Maoist
Chandrapala Kumarage – Attorney at Law
Champika Serasinghe
Dharmasiri Lankapeli – Journalist

For the Seminar, your participation as
Human Rights defender, is expected with
respect. Please present in time and help
to enrich our effort.

PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT FOR

FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY

17, Barrack lane, Colombo 02
TP. 011 2430621

Jayalath takes report on threats to Lanka journalists to Int. organisations

by Don Asoka Wijewardena

UNP MP Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena said yesterday that he had handed over a detailed report on the killing and harassment of Sri Lankan journalists to the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva and several other key Human Rights organizations in the UK.

That had been done under the instructions of Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena told The Island.

Dr. Jayawardena said that since 2005 Sri Lankan senior journalists had come under death threats, physical harassment and various kinds of other threats. Several journalists, including former Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunge had been killed in cold blood and as a result several senior journalists left the country for protection, he said.

Dr. Jayawardena said the report on the killing of journalists had been prepared by Sunil Jayasekera of the Free Media Movement. After Jayasekera handed it over to UNP leader Wickremesinghe, he (Dr. Jayawardena) had been appointed a special envoy to submit the report to the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, the Amnesty International, and several Human Rights organizations including the Human Rights Watch in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Jayawardena added that in the wake of Editor Wickrematunge’s killing, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had ordered a probe into the plight of senior journalists in Sri Lanka. He had also included in the detailed report death threats received by the incumbent Sunday Leader editor, Fredrica Jansz.
http://www.island.lk/2009/11/09/news16.html

Journalists live in fear; culture of impunity entrenched

Free Media activists Manjula Wediwardana leading a media protest

2009-11-08 | 5.25 PM
Two Sri Lankan editors received death threats on 22 October identical to the one received by journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge weeks before he was murdered in January, report IFEX members. The end of the war has not ensured the safety of the country’s journalists.

Editors Frederica Jansz and Munza Mushataq of “The Sunday Leader” received letters handwritten in red ink, postmarked 21 October. They threatened: “If you write anymore, we will kill you and slice you into pieces,” say IFEX members. Wickrematunge was the previous editor of the paper.
The death threats came after “The Sunday Leader” published a report on video footage allegedly showing Sri Lankan government
soldiers executing Tamil prisoners. The paper published a technical report from the U.S. stating that the video is authentic.

“The Sunday Leader” has been relentless in its criticism of the government. Currently, Jansz and Leader Publications are dealing with three complaints instigated by the President’s brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, reports Reporters Without Borders (RSF). One complaint accuses Jansz of contempt of court for publishing a profile of the Defence Secretary after a judge ordered the press group not to publish anything about him. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is known to equate criticism of the government with treason.

Journalist and former convenor of the Sri Lankan Free Media Movement (FMM) Uvindu Kurukulasuriya told ARTICLE 19: “The Sri Lankan government has failed to investigate the murder of Lasantha and bring his killers to justice and now there are the same death threats against his successors.”

Intimidation and assaults of independent journalists have crushed freedom of expression, says RSF. In a separate incident, Chandana Sirimalwatta, editor of the newspaper “Lanka Irida”, was detained and questioned by Colombo police on 17 October about his sources regarding an article on conflicts between the president and the head of the armed forces, Gen. Sarath Fonseka. On 20 October, the government information office threatened to “blacklist” online media that reported on tensions inside the government. As well, in June, journalist Poddala Jayantha was abducted and tortured.

On 28 September, several unidentified men tried to break into the home of journalist Dileesha Abeysundera. She works for a Sinhala-language weekly that is part of the Leader Publications group and is deputy secretary of the FMM. Abeysundera told RSF she believes she is being threatened because of her work campaigning for media freedom and against the government’s plan to restore a press council.

On a positive note, on 26 October a court ordered the release of magazine publisher Vetrivel Jasiharan and his partner Vadivel Vallarmathy after 19 months in detention on charges of terrorism, reports the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Jasiharan was the owner of OutreachSL.com, a website edited by J.S. Tissainayagam, who is currently in jail.
http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2009_11_08_001.html

The arrest of the ‘blogger’ in Sri Lanka: Crowd-sourcing trumps traditional media follow up

November 8, 2009

Ayubowan, a blog I didn’t know of before, helpfully posted a screen grab of a post from Gossip Lanka, a blog I also didn’t know of before, on the recent arrest of a blogger. Gossip Lanka’s post, which is in Sinhala, doesn’t render at all on my Mac, which is why Ayubowan’s screen grab is helpful. The post avers in Sinhala that,

A few days ago, a derogatory email, also containing five nude photos, were sent to the Secretary of Defense and the President. Resulting CID investigations probed the IP address to ascertain the sender. It was discovered that the email was sent from a cybercafe in Matale. Based upon further investigations, the Police were able to apprehend the individual who was a regular customer of the cybercafe and owned the account used to send the email. However, the suspect vehemently denied he had sent the email in question. “This must have been done by someone to set me up” he said. The Police then asked who this could be. It was then the suspect said that his password was with his former girlfriend, who was not on good terms with him.

The Police then questioned the suspect’s girlfriend, who let known in her fear that she had given the password to her new boyfriend. She also told Police that her new boyfriend had set out to teach her old boyfriend a lesson.

Gayan Rajapakse is the name of her new boyfriend, and he admitted that he had sent the email. He will be in remand till the 6th under the instructions of the Matale District Courts.

This version is corroborated, also in Sinhala, by Web Alochana, an identity I read and trust. As Web Alochana notes, it is still not clear what the exact nature of the threat to the Defense Secretary and the President was.

It is not confirmed whether Gayan Rajapakse is a blogger. He could still turn out to be one. His actions deservedly put him in the hands of the law, and cannot be condoned. However, sending an email is not the same as publishing “offensive and defamatory comments regarding the President and the Secretary of Defense through a website he was operating”, which is what the Daily Mirror first reported and gave rise to fears that a blogger had been arrested, in the context of Sri Lanka’s atrocious media freedom. The Daily Mirror’s follow up story the day after also fails to mention that the suspect had been arrested over an email.

There has been to my knowledge no further reporting by the Daily Mirror on this incident. Bloggers, justifiably alarmed, wrote a number of posts such as this one by Indi Samarajiva to find out more information on the incident. And it’s on comment threads on these posts, and on the blogosphere, that the incident was probed deeper and a more comprehensive account determined.

It’s an interesting model of crowd-sourcing a story, and one that the Daily Mirror and other traditional print media are well advised to study. The Guardian in England has already shown how this works to hold government accountable.
http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/the-arrest-of-the-%E2%80%98blogger%E2%80%99-in-sri-lanka-crowd-sourcing-trumps-traditional-media-follow-up/

Fmr. BASL head claims FR violations widespread in SL

The office of Human rights lawyer Amitha Ariyaratne, burned down at an unknown arsonist on 1st Feb 2009. On the 27th January 2009, Mr. Ariyaratne was threatened inside the Negombo Police Station by an officer who threatened him with death three times.

Senior counsel and former President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Romesh de Silva PC, addressing a foundation laying ceremony of an Lawyers’ office complex at Hulftsdorf  had said  there were still fundamental rights violations and breaches of the rule of law taking place in the country.

He was speaking at the event with President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the audience as chief guest and Chief Justice Asoka de Silva, Judges of the Supreme Court, Appeal Court and the High Court with Attorney General Mohan Peiries, Justice Minister, Milinda Moragoda also among the participants.

“A lawyer’s primary duty is to administer justice, uphold the rule of law and safeguard the fundamental rights of the citizens of this country,” Mr. de Silva said.

“There are several instances where people’s fundamental rights have been violated and the Rule of Law has not been observed and we as lawyers and the Bar Association must act to prevent such acts from taking place.” It is the duty of all lawyers to uphold the Rule of Law and to ensure that there are no violations of the Fundamental Rights of the people. However, before we deal with the rule of law and Fundamental Rights in this country it is good to place these actions in their proper context.

We love the country we live in as we live in a land where every citizen is considered equal. We have a right to live in this country where no one race or religion can claim superiority.  Everyone has a right to live in this country. We have a right to live in this country where ability is the sole criteria for appointments and appointments to the Public Service, Foreign Service, Corporations and other Government Institutions are on ability and ability alone and not based on political or personal patronage.

During his address the former BASL President also stressed that the time has come to rethink the introduction of the 13th Amendment. “Recently we have been told to implement the 13th Amendment by several countries which do not have similar legislation. But now that terror has been wiped out one might even rethink  the necessity of having the 13th amendment in this country which is a small island and question the need to spend such large sums of money  to implement it,” he stated.

During his speech Mr. Silva also stressed the importance of the Bar being independent and non political. The Bar Association should remain non political, independent and fearless in the protection of the fundamental rights of the people of this country.  The Bar Association is bound to do its best to ensure that the Rule of Law prevails in the country and the actions of all are subject to it.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=67173

Media freedom activist Darmasiri Lankapeli re- elected as general secretary FMETU

Darmasiri Lankapeli leading a media protest

Darmasiri Lankapeli, a long time press freedom and human rights activists was re elected as the general secretary of Federation of Media Employers Trade Union on at its annual general meeting held on 7^th Nov 2009 at Public library hall, Colombo. FMETU is member of IFJ and UNI.

He received 197 votes and only one vote was cast against him. FMETU is comprised of media workers (including journalists) trade unions in state controlled media institutions. In Sri Lanka privately owned media institutions do not allow any trade unions for their media workers including journalists.

In 2008 FMETU and its general Secretary Darmasiri Lankapeli filed a Fundamental rights petition at Supreme Court requesting an order to broadbase the ownership of state controlled Associate Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (Lake House). SC turned down the petition.

Darmasiri Lankapeli has been in the forefront of human rights media freedom campaigns over the years. His re-election is a victory for all those forces campaigning for human rights and media freedom rights in Sri Lanka.

Normal’ in Sri Lanka is not good enough

Re: Slow Down, You’re Granting Asylum Too Fast, Martin Collacott, Nov. 3.

Martin Collacott states things in Sri Lanka are returning to “normal.”

Normal in Sri Lanka means journalists who dare to speak out about abuses by the Sri Lankan government are forced into exile or brutally murdered, like Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge. Normal are the death threats made against human rights defenders like Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, the executive director for the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a non-partisan public policy institute focusing on issues of democratic governance, human rights and peace. Is it also this kind of normalcy that allowed another journalist, J.S. Tissainayagam, to be sentenced to 20 years in jail for doing his job in reporting the devastating impact of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. Normal is the continuing persecution of medical doctors for simply reporting death tolls during the final phase of the armed conflict.

If this is how the government of Sri Lanka treats prominent journalists, lawyers, medical professionals and human rights defenders, imagine the treatment of ordinary Tamil civilians. The fact is that young Tamil males, such as those who fled Sri Lanka on the Ocean Lady to seek asylum in Canada, are persecuted in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Collacott also states the notion that Tamils as a people are being persecuted is “nonsense” and a “myth.” Several international human rights groups would disagree. The Genocide Prevention Project ranked Sri Lanka eighth in its watch list of countries at risk of mass atrocity crimes. And the Minority Rights Group International has ranked Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka as 11th in terms of peoples or groups that are most under threat of genocide, mass killing or other systemic violent repression.

Since the armed conflict in Sri Lanka has concluded, the situation for Tamils in that country has by no means improved, especially for the 250,000 civilians currently interned in government-run camps. It is under these conditions that these young Tamil men boarded a rusty old ship, risking their lives in the open sea for weeks to seek asylum in Canada.

David Poopalapillai, national spokesperson, Canadian Tamil Congress, Toront

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/story.html?id=2197147

Political parties and human rights organisations protest

killing that shocked the country

By  Kassapa Ellepola

Several political parties along with some human rights organisations yesterday gathered in front of the Fort Railway station to protest against the police on the alleged attack on a mentally unstable youth in the shallow seas near the Bambalapitiya Railway station recently.

The Democratic People’s Front, United Socialist Party along with mothers and daughters of Lanka and the Platform for Freedom organisations gathered in numbers shouting slogans and demonstrating banners against the police claiming that the Sri Lankan police had undermined the democracy and the human rights of the country.

United Socialist Party spokesman Sirithunga Jayasuriya said that this attack should be considered another event of a chain of attacks that the police had conducted on innocent civilians.

“The person, who was attacked, pleaded for his life and the police kept on assaulting him in the midst of a large number of onlookers and it is great disappointment that no citizen who witnessed the incident has
come forward to provide evidence for the investigation,” he said.

He added that the attack was an image of the state terrorism in practice and it is time that everyone despite political parties, race or religion in hands to stop the government from putting the democracy, human rights and media freedom of the country in danger.

Meanwhile Human Rights activist Nimalka Fernando who was present at the occasion said that political parties, religious leaders and various people were condemning the violations of human rights and breaching the democracy of the country.

“Only the judiciary has the authority to punish wrongdoers and the police have no authority or right to punish people like this,” she said.

Father Sathyawel of St. Michael’s Church  Kollupitiya commenting on the incident said that if this violation of human rights took place in the Capital while hundreds were watching it is optimistic that there would
have been more human rights violations  in  Mullivaikkal, Mullaitivu where 30,000 people died.

A mentally unstable youth who was pelting stones at people and trains near the Bambalapitiya Railway station was chased away by two policemen to the shallow seas using poles while he was pleading for mercy. The person was drowned and his body was washed ashore near the Kollupitiya Railway station at around noon the following day.

Governor confiscates camera after claiming the journalist is a terrorist

General Chandrasiri, governer Northen province

2009-11-05 | 9.30 PM
Northern Province Government Major General G.A. Chandrasiri had confiscated camera equipment worth Rs. 200,000 belonging to one Reuter’s journalist

M. Subramaniam

, also known as Subu and has failed to return it as yet.

Subu had arrived in Vavuniya on May 14 to cover the former Chief Juustice Sarath N. Silva’s visit to the IDP camps in Vavuniya following an invitation extended to him by the Registrar of the Vavuniya courts. The former Chief Justice had left after visiting the Menik Farm and Ramanathapurma IDP camps. The Major General who was in charge of security and the military police personnel at the camps had summoned Subu to his office and questioned him for about four and a half hours.
He had told Subramaniam that it was sufficient only to have the photographs of the Chief Justice and had erased the rest of the photographs saved in his digital camera claiming there was no need for Subu to have pictures of the IDPs.

Although Subramaniam had informed the Major General that he was a journalist attached to the Reuters news service and showed the relevant documentation, the military officer had said, “All foreign correspondents work against the country. This fellow can be an LTTEer.” The Major General had then ordered his security personnel to take charge of Subramaniam’s camera and other equipment. The military personnel had then recorded statement from Subramaniam and from the court Registrar who had invited him to cover the event in Vavuniya.

The Northern Province Government G.A. Chandrasiri is still in possession of the D40X Nikon digital camera and 18mm-270mm lens worth Rs. 165,000 and a mini Canon video recorded worth Rs. 60,000. Several attempts made by Subramaniam to get his camera equipment have failed.

Following this incident several unidentified persons have visited Subramaniam’s residence and inquired into his actions. Upon being informed of the situation, the Reuters office in Colombo had advised Subramaniam to leave Vavuniya as it was no longer safe for him to reside there. Subramaniam had left the area a few days later and the Northern Province Governor has still not made any effort to return the camera equipment that belonged to the journalist.

The Reuters news agency has been silent about the issue and the local media organizations have also decided to keep silent about the incident although they are well aware of the matter.
http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2009_11_05_004.html

Brutal police attack on unemployed graduates – many arrested, 5 admitted to hospital – (right to dissent)

police brutality has no lomits

Wednesday, 04 November 2009 17:46

altThe police baton charged and used the water cannon to disperse an agitation carried out by unemployed graduates in Colombo Fort today (4th) afternoon.

More than two thousand unemployed graduates walked from Fort Railway Station to reach Presidential Secretariat to hand over a memorandum asking for solutions for issues confronting them. However, their path was blocked by the police at Lake House roundabout where the police launched a brutal attack on the graduates.

After the police attack the unemployed graduates had congregated at the Presidential Secretariat where the police attacked the graduates for the second time today. As a result of the brutal police attack 5 graduates were severely injured and had to be admitted to hospital.

Meanwhile, several unemployed graduates who had taken part in the agitation have been arrested by the police.
http://www.lankatruth.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3721:brutal-police-attack-on-unemployed-graduates-many-arrested-5-admitted-to-hospital&catid=34:lead-news&Itemid=50