Sri Lanka’s Fear Psychosis

Frederica Janz
■Sri Lankans across the board, renowned for their friendly smiles and easy ways are too afraid to speak
A Norwegian journalist Correspondent for Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation sat across from me in my office last Tuesday. Norwegian Broadcasting is state owned and the largest media organization in Norway, BUT with absolutely no interference in editorial content.

For a population of 5 million people the network which includes radio and television has an audience of one million.

He was in Sri Lanka to cover issues, on the country post war, which included media freedom.  He too, like all of us in the media, came up against a blank wall when attempting to speak with “people on the street”. Nobody would talk. “I was quite surprised,” he recounted.  A journalist himself, he thought it rare that the public would not talk to journalists.  He was puzzled.

I am not surprised, nor puzzled that people are too afraid to speak to reporters. This is a phenomenon we journalists have been up against for the last four years. Ever since the push to end a war involving Tamil separatists and government forces reached a pinnacle.  Ever since journalists were barred from witnessing how the war was being concluded.  Post war, journalists continue to come up against this wall of silence.  It is a fear psychosis.  From leading entrepreneurs, to ‘the man on the street’, Sri Lankans across the board, renowned for their friendly smiles and easy ways are too afraid to speak and this includes many of my own journalistic colleagues.

This newspaper paid the ultimate price –the target for assault, burning, victimization and suppression of free expression by successive governments, culminating in cold-blooded murder

There are reasons for this fear. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers have successfully succeeded in repressing reporters. There have been too many killings and disappearances of reporters coupled with police immunity.

The media – barring this newspaper – no longer tell you how it is. Few Western journalists have visited the former war torn areas in this past year. Magnus himself was refused a request to travel to Mullaitivu.  Or more accurately, his letter seeking permission never got a reply.

The government remains paranoid about the Western media. Too afraid that their reports could end up like that of Channel 4 or used in an international quest to investigate war crimes charges against Rajapaksa and his government.

Both the military and the police are strapped by fear.  Poorly briefed and no longer possessing educated, disciplined personnel, Sri Lanka’s uniformed muscle functions in constant fear of politicians.  In a society increasingly sliding towards dictatorship, led by an all powerful Executive President armed with brothers who have donned mantles of power, based purely on the fact that their sibling is President, Sri Lankans have been subjected to the package deal.  Rajapaksa and Co. – take it or leave it. If you refuse to take it – you are a traitor.

No man on the street, including the media in this country irrespective of whether they are state or privately owned, will dare question the final days of the war.  Nor will they dare raise their voices against the rising tide of corruption.  The media in fact are willing pawns in the hands of Rajapaksa & Co., as they dish out sunshine stories on mega development projects; never mind that the multi billion rupee port in Hambantota hit a rock (literally) nor that over 3 billion rupees remains outstanding for a multi billion rupee cricket stadium built at record speed in Hambantota merely to satisfy the perverted patriotism of the President and his brothers, or that daylight robbery is being committed as vast tracts of arable land are being seized/cleared and taken under state control all in the name of development and promoting tourism.  The public remains silent as does the media. They are all – controlled.

It is this control that has led to the breeding of an ‘underground.’ Men and women, masquerading as journalists, prostituting this profession with no clue of the ethics or principles of good reportage.  With no sound training in journalism nor any educational qualifications in that field they have nevertheless initiated what they call ‘news websites’ which effectively are nothing more than slander and gossip of the worst kind. Lanka e news is a good case in point.   We have Rajapaksa and Co. to thank for this dismal situation within our own ranks.

Who for instance is questioning how the Defense Ministry plans on utilising the additional Rs. 15 billion allocated under the Appropriation Bill for next year?  Take it from me it will not be the media.

Who dares raise issue with the fact – yes FACT – that out of a multi trillion rupee Appropriation Bill for the year 2012, over 20 percent has been allocated to the President, and several Ministries and some statutory institutions that come under the direct control of the Rajapaksa family?

On November 24, 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the public that, “Bribery and corruption ruined the country. We have the legal frameworks to tackle corruption. What is lacking is the proper implementation of this legislation”.

On fraud and corruption, however, the President’s actions are inconsistent with his rhetoric. Two fraudulent privatizations, one, the corrupted privatization of Lanka Marine Services (LMSL) and the other, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC), annulled by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka remain uninvestigated and high level appointments made by the President himself effectively block even the prospect of a future investigation.

In addition, Rajapaksa’s administration is rife with conflicts of interest, nepotism and cronyism that have cost the people of Sri Lanka billions of dollars (trillions of rupees) at a time when they desperately need public services due to the consequences of a protracted civil war and a devastating tsunami.

Why do we allow President Mahinda Rajapaksa to get away with turning a blind eye to corruption?  Why do we allow Mahinda Percy Rajapaksa to get away with being a dictator?

The people are afraid. That is why. Journalists are afraid too. Which is why they are self censoring themselves.  They believe they need to. To stay safe. If any within our fraternity like those of us at The Sunday Leader – dare step out of line – dare buck this regime – no media organization in this country – will dare – stand by us.  That has been the proven track record of The Sunday Leader and its relationship with the Editors Guild and Newspaper Publishers Society of Sri Lanka.

That apart, the current leadership of this country is suffering from an acute attack of PARANOIA. How else can the continuous harassment of journalists, the reintroduction of draconian laws against the media, the use of the army to police civilians and the apparent attempt to keep secret the report by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee which is to be handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday November 15, be explained?  Does not this nation have a fundamental right to know the findings of this Committee?  At the very least in the name of truth and reconciliation?

We at this newspaper have ad nauseam called on the President to conduct a fair investigation into the dastardly killing of his former friend and ally Lasantha Wickrematunge.  Even as he studiously ignored our pleas, we have trudged to court every two weeks hoping against all hope that the police would have found some clue as to who murdered Lasantha.  To no avail.

If indeed Sarath Fonseka conspired to kill Lasantha why was the President silent for over one year since Wickrematunge was murdered before he began pointing a finger in Fonseka’s direction?  Why was it impossible to garner sufficient proof to arrest and yes – hang him for murder if found guilty.  We, at The Sunday Leader would be the first to salute and applaud Rajapaksa for ensuring that justice prevails. Or is there more to it, than the naked eye can see? Is there something that prevents a proper investigation?

We have asked these questions before. Never mind. Until we receive a satisfactory response, this newspaper will continue ad nauseam to repeat these questions.  Again and again. Who was guilty for the horrendous assault on former Deputy Editor of The Nation newspaper Keith Noyahr? Who assaulted and knifed journalist Namal Perera together with his friend Mahendra Ratnaweera on a busy highway at 5.30 p.m. on June 30, 2008?
Who, hot on the heels of Lasantha’s killing, knifed former Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon as he left for office one morning at 7.30 a.m.?

It is well over two years since these deplorable attacks on journalists took place. Since then some two dozen journalists have left this country and continue to live in exile. What about the Tamil journalists murdered under Rajapaksa’s watch? Who killed them? Why has his government failed to find evidence or clues as to who committed these disgusting and nauseating attacks? Does the President, want us to believe that our police force is this impotent?

For decades successive ruling parties have killed, harassed and intimidated journalists.  In the last few decades no single political leader or political party whether now in power or in opposition can claim that such did not happen during their time. No political leader can claim that he or she was not actively involved or alternatively kept quiet when journalists were being murdered.

This newspaper paid the ultimate price – having been a target for assault, burning, victimization and suppression of free expression by successive governments, culminating in cold-blooded murder under Rajapaksa’s watch. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga even went so far as to seal us in the year 2000, at which time Mangala Samaraweera was her Media Minister.

Frightening though, is that the trend continues when the ruling party enjoys an unprecedented wave of popular support following the defeat of the LTTE, the opposition in total disarray and the government naturally having nothing to fear.
SL

Sri Lankan journalist speaks of attacks on media

Monday, April 11, 2011

By Kaleb Warnock

“They threw my unconscious body in a ditch and left me to die.”

Poddala Jayantha begin_of_the_skype_highlighting���� end_of_the_skype_highlighting is a Sri Lankan journalist who was nearly killed because of his investigative reporting with regard to alleged human rights violations executed by the Sri Lankan government. He spoke of his experience last Thursday as part of the First Amendment Day celebration in the Cardinal Room of the Memorial Union.

“I stand here today as a political asylum as a Sri Lankan journalist,” said Jayantha through a translator. “I was forced to leave Sri Lanka to save my life. There are so many other journalists who live there in fear. Most of them are living in exile.”

In his presentation, Jayantha told a room full of future journalists of the role and influence of media in Sri Lanka and how the struggle has caused extreme censorship of the media. He speaks primarily on behalf of the Tamil minority against the human rights violations enacted during the civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government.

The government tightened restrictions on the media following the end of the civil war in 2009, according to the Human Rights Watch report of 2010.

“As pressure mounted for an independent investigation into alleged laws of war violations,” the report said, “the government responded by threatening journalists and civil society activists, effectively curtailing public debate and establishing its own commission of inquiry with a severely limited mandate.”

Many of the threats were realized, Jayantha said.

“The first shots after the war was over were fired at the journalists and free media,” Jayantha said. “They virtually crushed the free media institutions, and they only have the pro-government media to assassinate the character of the people who oppose them, or they actually use death squads to kill them.”

As a matter of fact, Jayantha was the victim of a death squad, and he suspects they were motivated to silence him for speaking out against human rights violations.

“I was tortured and my left leg was broken,” he said. “And today I’m walking with the assistance of steel rod that has been placed there. They poured acid on me. They also cut my beard and hair and put it in my mouth and forced me to inhale, which caused severe problems in my lungs subsequently. They thew my unconscious body in a ditch and left me to die.”

Following the June 2009 attack, he was in the hospital for nearly a month and was unable to walk for six more. His case is not an exception, as many other journalists have been attacked and several have paid the ultimate price.

Jayantha said since this administration took over in 2005, five leading media institutions have been burned down, 35 media employees have been murdered and six journalists have been kidnapped. Five have been released due to public opposition, but one is still missing and has been since January of 2010.

There has been no ensuing investigation to many of these cases, including Jayantha’s, and his attack remains unsolved.

“Every atrocity committed against a journalist and the media since April 20, 2005, to Dec. 8, 2009, the day that an editor of a newspaper was murdered, is being gradually covered by the dust that invaded through time,” Jayantha said.

However, he continues to speak out against the Sri Lankan government and hopes to continue to fight for human rights in his home country. He called on journalists and the international community to fight for free speech and seek the truth and hold the government accountable for its actions.

“That’s why I’m appealing to journalists. … Don’t let this freedom die.”

IOWA STATE DAILY.COM

Poddala Jayantha was assaulted and his legs were broken by the Police �eye witness confirms

An eye witness told Lanka e news that Poddala Jayantha the President of the professional media organization who was attacked and his legs broken on the 1st of June 2009 was launched by a special police team who came in a white Van . He was later found dumped near Mandawila Road , Kolonnawa.

On the day of the incident , the eye witness was cutting grass for his cows near the Mandawila Temple .Suddenly h e saw a white Van stopping and brutally assaulting an individual and throwing him out from the van . The person who threw him out from the Van had an iron rod and a pink colored pair of scissors in his hands, he added.
The eye witness who identified this victim who was thrown out from the van as Poddala Jayantha� only after he viewed the television channel that day , went on to state that the persons who threw Poddala Jayantha� by the roadside and went were those individuals who took him into custody a month earlier and assaulted him , and whom he identified as police officers..

The eye witness had also seen these police officers who threw out Poddala Jayantha� from the van after assaulting , at the Welikade police , Aluthkade Courts , Bambalapitiya House of Fashion and in the company of Rupasinghe who is serving in the IDH police station

Lanka e news

 

International Award For Sri Lankan Journalist – IFJ

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the awarding of an anti-corruption prize to Sri Lankan journalist and press freedom activist Poddala Jayantha, who was forced into exile after a brutal attack in June 2009.

Jayantha received corruption watchdog Transparency International�s Integrity Award on November 12 in recognition of his fearless reporting on corruption in Sri Lanka, in a climate where critical investigative journalism has been stymied by government oppression and partisan violence. In one report for Silumina, Jayantha exposed an alleged LKR 3.6 billion (USD 37 million) case of tax fraud.

The journalist has also worked tirelessly in defence of freedom of expression and media workers� rights in his role as former General Secretary of the Sri Lankan Working Journalists� Association (SLWJA), an IFJ affiliate.

�The IFJ applauds Transparency International�s recognition of the integrity and courage of Poddala Jayanthya, who is known as much for his excellent investigative journalism as his unrelenting defence of journalists� rights and freedom of expression,� IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

�The award sends a clear message that corruption and human rights abuses must be exposed and reminds us of the crucial role of journalists who help in uncovering these crimes.�

Jayantha, who left Sri Lanka after being abducted and assaulted in an attack which has left him with permanent disabilities, continues in his role as President of the SLWJA in exile in the United States.

Meanwhile, a government ban issued on November 10 which prevented BBC journalists from reporting on a hearing into the country�s civil war in the country�s north was lifted on November 14, the BBC reported.

Government officials had prevented the BBC crew from attending the trials, which hope to determine ways to avoid repeating the atrocities committed in the country�s ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese majority and separatist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Restrictions on media remain in place for access to the predominantly Tamil north of the country, which is home to a number of refugee camps and military installations, according to BBC reports.

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 125 countries

Excellence in exile

by Dilrukshi Handunnetti

Poddala

Battered and bleeding, journalist Poddala Jayantha lay on his hospital bed when we visited him on June 2, 2009. He was lucky to be alive after being brutally assaulted by a group of unidentified assailants just the previous day.

This was a terrible time for the Sri Lankan media.� Personally, I was struggling to recover from the shock of losing my former editor Lasantha Wickrematunge to the tyranny of the powerful. I was not alone. It was shared grief in a year that recorded a series of violent acts against journalists and media workers. 2009 was annus horibilis for Sri Lankan journalism.

Perhaps for clinical analysts, the attack on Poddala was simply one in a series, though a conspicuous one.� There was a difference.

Wickrematunge�s life was simply snuffed out, J.S. Tissainayagam was arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) together with his colleagues.� The then Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon was knifed and the then Editor of Sudaroli N. Vithyatharan abducted and later released.

Instead of killing Poddala, the attackers chose to let him live with his broken bones and a spirit they thought by then cracked. Poddala was to serve as a living reminder of the price for dissent, a warning so clear.

His eyes filled with pain, Poddala that day simply held my hands and muttered �sometimes I wonder why we struggle so much for people who betray us and defeat our causes. Yet I still believe that ideals cannot be compromised�. As his courageous journalism and integrity receive international recognition today, I recall the determination in his voice that day.

Poddala was a fiery investigative journalist who pursued the higher ideals in public-spirited journalism. As a journalist, he pushed himself, fellow journalists and activists as well as the limitations imposed by the State-run newspaper where a culture of subservience prevailed.

The stature he earned as a respected journalist and a media activist brought him not just fame but very powerful enemies. On June 1 2009, he was brutally assaulted.� That incident altered his life completely and drove him away from his country and from journalism towards a life of an exiled scribe.

Today, November 12 is a significant day for him.� The prestigious Integrity Award 2010 was conferred upon him today by Transparency International at a glittering ceremony in Bangkok.

An unmistakable parallel springs to my mind.� Exactly a decade ago, it was another dissenting Sri Lankan journalist, Lasantha Wickrematunge who won the first Integrity Award. There could be other parallels that spring to mind too. Yet it should not dishearten anyone that Lasantha was made to prematurely lie in a grave and that Poddala suffers from permanent damage to his limbs.

Of course, Lasantha worked in the English language and was a successful editor and a journalist of international repute. Poddala on the other hand worked in the local Sinahala language within the terrible confines of a State-run editorial as desk editor.

That is also why Poddala�s contribution to journalism is significant. The excuse hovering on the lips of most State media practitioners is that self-censorship is the norm and how impossible it is to fight it.� Poddala�s example clearly demonstrates that one can in fact fight it. He demonstrated that excellence in journalism was possible within State media institutions, the appalling internal politics notwithstanding.

Admittedly, we belong to a duplicitous and divided media community. This has aided politicians to divide journalists into various camps and to play one colleague against another. Poddala was well aware of this ugly reality.� He knew that as much as we demand accountability from others, that the industry is infested by those who sell opinions for a bottle of spirits, foreign trips or expensive gifts.� It was Poddala who promoted the concept of an integrity pledge for journalists and campaigned for a policy on gifts.

And what prompted him to demand accountability through his writing with such zeal?� Poddala openly spoke of his humble beginnings and how much every rupee mattered to his own family and to the poor people in his village. It made him demand that every rupee meant for public spending be spent on that purpose and be accounted for.� For him, pioneering causes, promoting ethics and selflessly committing himself to media activism came naturally.� For Poddala, journalism was a way of life, not a livelihood.

With the escalation of violence against journalists, dozens of committed journalists were forced out of Sri Lanka in a bid to save their lives. There were also those who used the opportunity to flee Sri Lanka claiming imaginary threats.

Poddala in my opinion made a miscalculation. He went away for a short while after the brutal murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge and returned soon afterwards.� Many others, who left with him, chose not to return, sensing possible violence against them in the event of a quick return.

When I telephoned Poddala to share the joyous news of him being the Integrity Award winner 2010, his voice cracked: �I just wish I could work with you all again, wish I could write again and live in Sri Lanka again.�� I do know that Poddala still harbours hopes of returning home, to the industry he lived for and continues to love.

An award may not make a difference to his exiled existence today. Exiled journalists do not have too many choices or opportunities to grow. Circumstances have denied Poddala the opportunity to travel to Bangkok and receive his award. Yet, it will serve him as a reminder that the world is not blind to those who lead by example and the integrity he has demonstrated merits respect and recognition.
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http://www.groundviews.org/2010/11/12/excellence-in-exile/

Activist ( Poddala Jayantha)seeks international probe

Police say the case has been suspended as no evidence has been found
A journalist union leader who was abducted and tortured by yet unidentified group says he will seek international justice as authorities in Sri Lanka have failed to bring the culprits to books.

Poddala Jayantha was one of the remaining journalist leaders in Sri Lanka when he was abducted, beaten and alter thrown away from a vehicle on 01 June 2010.

The former President of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), Mr. Jayantha has since left the country on security grounds.

Police have recently informed the court that the investigation is no longer active as no suspects have been found.

Rule of law

“I don’t believe the police are incapable of finding the suspects,” he told BBC Sandeshaya while in exile.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2010/08/100830_poddala_attack.shtml

Is it I myself who has to find evidence and produce before courts

Poddala Jayantha

He said the police in Sri Lanka have been very efficient when it comes to finding suspects who attacked or harmed powerful people in the society.

“Is it I myself who has to find evidence and produce before courts?” Mr. Poddala asked.

The Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says that abduction happened “in a systematic manner that prevails in many cases of abductions with white vans.”

“Supremacy of the law remains the fundamental basis for any democracy. The rule of law is the governing principle in a democracy.” The AHRC said in a statement.

ATTACKS ON THE PRESS IN 2009 – SRI LANKA

� 2010 Committee to Protect Journalists, New York

On may 19, the government formally declared a victory in its 26-year civil war with the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which had claimed territory for an ethnic Tamil homeland. Victory came at a high price for the press. Escalating attacks on independent journalists coincided with the government�s 2006 decision to pursue an all-out military victory.
CPJ found in a February special report, �Failure to Investigate.� Ethnic Tamil journalists seen by the government as supporting independence had long been under murderous assault, but physical and verbal attacks on Sinhalese and Muslim journalists critical of the government�s military operations began accelerating in 2006 as well. These attacks�which in 2009 included a murder, a bombing, and several assaults�occurred with complete impunity.

On January 6, as many as 20 assailants carried out a 3 a.m. bombing that destroyed the control room of the country�s largest independent broadcasting company, Maharajah Broadcasting, knocking the prominent Sirasa TV and six sister radio and television stations off the air, according to news accounts and CPJ interviews. The blast came after state media criticized the broadcaster for its coverage of military operations.

The bombing was immediately followed by two violent episodes in which motorcyclists wielding iron bars and wooden poles attacked prominent journalists. A January 8 assault by eight men on four motorcycles resulted in the death of newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga and set off a wave of domestic and international protest. Wickramatunga foresaw his own murder, writing in
an editorial published three days after his death: �Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened, and killed. It has been my honor to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.�

The other January attack, on Upali Tennakoon, editor of the Sinhala-language, pro-government weekly Rivira and his wife, Dhammika, came at about 6:40 a.m. on January 23. This time, four men on two motorcycles severely injured Tennakoon. Soon after, the couple fled to the United States seeking asylum. The government denounced the January attacks but sought to deflect
responsibility. Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, the top officials in the Ministry of Mass Media and Information, told Colombo newspapers there was a �massive conspiracy� to discredit the government by destabilizing the country with attacks on prominent figures. They said a comprehensive inquiry would be carried out to find the attackers in all three January cases. Such inquiries had been promised in the past; as in the past, the 2009 cases led to no conclusive government action by late year.

With international outrage growing, CPJ sent a representative to Colombo to investigate the assaults. Eighteen journalists were killed in Sri Lanka between 1992 and 2009, according to CPJ research, and 10 of them were murdered. No convictions have been obtained in any of the murders, a law enforcement failure that propelled Sri Lanka to fourth place on CPJ�s Impunity Index. The index is a ranking of countries where journalists are killed regularly and authorities are unable to solve the crimes.

CPJ said the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa should be held directly responsible for impunity surrounding the attacks. Nine of the murders� minister in April 2004 and then as president in November 2005. CPJ testified before U.S. Senate and House committees, as well as Canada�s House of Commons, about the January attacks and the history of abuse directed at journalists in the country.

The Sri Lankan government maintained a hard line of denial after CPJ released its findings. A Washington meeting between a CPJ delegation and Sri Lankan Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya did not change the government�s outward position�no assurances were given and little responsibility was ac-cepted. The acts of intimidation and the absence of substantive government response drove at least 11 Sri Lankan journalists into exile between June 2008 and
June 2009, CPJ research found. Sri Lankan journalists accounted for more than a quarter of the journalists worldwide who fled their countries during that period after being attacked, harassed, or threatened with violence or imprisonment, according to CPJ research. January�s attacks and intimidation continued through the year. Typical was the June 1 kidnapping of the general secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Poddala Jayantha. He was abducted on a busy road in Colombo during rush hour, beaten, and dropped by the side of a road in a suburb. Witnesses at the scene said six unidentified men in a white Toyota Hi Ace van with tinted
glass windows had grabbed him; the same type of vehicle has been used to pick up antigovernment figures in the past. No arrests had been made by late year. In July, domestic access to the independent Lanka News Web was shut down. The site�s managers received no formal explanation but suspected the shutdown stemmed from a story reporting that the president�s son had been the target of stone throwers at a Tamil refugee camp. Around the same time, the official Web site of the Ministry of Defense carried an article headlined, �Traitors in Black Coats Flocked Together,� which identified five lawyers who represented the Sunday
Leader newspaper at a July 9 hearing in a Mount Lavinia court as having �a history of appearing for and defending� LTTE guerrillas. The article included pictures of three of the lawyers, making them identifiable to government supporters who might accost them.

CPJ pressed for journalists to be allowed access to the conflict zones. Both the government and the LTTE had barred the press. Reporters who did try to cover the major humanitarian catastrophe taking place in the heart of the Indian Ocean region were obstructed. A team from Britain�s Channel 4 News�Asia correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, cameraman Matt Jasper, and producer Bessie Du�were ordered to leave the country on May 10 by Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Channel 4 had just aired footage filmed secretly in a Tamil refugee
camp in the northern city of Vavuniya. The report included allegations that guards had left corpses to rot, that food and water were in short supply, and that sexual abuse was prevalent. A month later, on July 20, Associated Press Bureau Chief Ravi Nessman was ordered out the country when the government refused to renew his visa.

By mid-year it was clear that, even with its victory in the war against the LTTE, the government was not going to back away from its policies of intimidation. That reality was driven home on August 31, when columnist J.S. Tissainayagam, also known as Tissa, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of violating the country�s harsh anti-terror law. After his conviction, the first in which a journalist was found guilty of violating the country�s Prevention of Terrorism
Act, a Colombo High Court sentenced him to 20 years of hard labor. Terrorism Investigation Division officials arrested Tissainayagam, an English- language columnist for the Sri Lankan Sunday Times and editor of the news Web site OutreachSL, on March 7, 2008, when he visited their offices to inquire about the arrests of colleagues the previous day. He was held without charge until his indictment in August 2008 in connection with articles published nearly three years earlier in a now-defunct magazine, North Eastern Monthly. The sentencing judge, Deepali Wijesundara, said articles Tissainayagam wrote for the Monthly in 2006 incited communal disharmony, an offense under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. She also found him guilty of raising funds to publish the magazine, itself a violation of the anti-terror law. The government had backed off the anti-terror law in 2006 when, under a cease-fire then in effect between the government and the LTTE, it pledged not to detain people under the statute. But as the government ramped up its military efforts, it began enforcing provisions of the law to rein in uncooperative media. In November, CPJ recognized Tissainayagam�s independent journalism,
practiced under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, by honoring him with an International Press Freedom Award.

http://www.ifex.org/international/2010/02/18/aop09.pdf

Attacks on peaceful protest – By Suriya Wickremasinghe

Thursday, February 11, 2010

By Suriya Wickremasinghe

��all parties that have hitherto shared in government must share in some measure the responsibility for these despicable tendencies.1�

�We have seen men enjoying positions of responsibility conniving with hoodlums and rowdies � The law, to be respected, must be enforced without fear or favour. There are people, probably, who fancy that they have the wit to flirt with thugs and thuggery, take what they want out of them�and then maintain a firm hand over them. To be so deluded is to ignore the lessons of history2.�

The right to peaceful protest is only one of many current concerns of the Civil Rights Movement (CRM). Human rights issues requiring attention arise from many events that took place in 2009 and the first few weeks of the present year. These include the armed conflict and its aftermath, the plight of the IDPs, killings, attacks on, abductions and arrests of journalists including Vidyadaran of Sudar Oli (February 2009), Poddala Jayantha (June 2009) and Chandana Sirimalwatte of Lanka (January 2010), the killing and disappearances of lawyers and journalists including Lasantha Wickremasinghe (January 2009), and Prageeth Ekneligoda (January 2010), the Tissanayagam case, and the presidential election. There are also issues relating to military law, and to the continued use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and emergency powers. Vital among all this are the needs of the war victims of all communities and their families, of the war-torn civilian population of the North and East, and the building of a just and equitable post-conflict society.

That the present statement is limited to the right to peaceful protest and counter protest by no means indicates a lack of consciousness of the many other issues. It is because of its immediacy in what CRM sees as an alarming slide towards further curtailment of democratic norms, particularly in view of the imminent general election, and because it has such a compelling significance for the long-term as well.

In 1956 Tamil political leaders engaged in a peaceful Satyagraha on Galle Face Green, and were attacked by thugs while the police looked on. A retired senior police officer has described how Tamils were taken out of buses and ducked in the Beira Lake while many young MPs watched from the steps of the Parliament building (now the Presidential Secretariat) and found it amusing; �Seeing the Parliamentarians enjoying themselves in this manner no junior police officer dared to order his men to arrest the ringleaders of this violent mob…3�. In 1972 forty two Tamil youth protesting against the 1972 Constitution were arrested and detained for over a year (some for over two years) before being released without charge. In the late 1970s and 1980s there were a series of attacks on peaceful picketers, demonstrators and others4 which CRM has identified as a contributory cause to the terrible events of July 1983 when armed mobs roamed the streets killing Sri Lankans and destroying their property for no other reason than that they belonged to the Tamil community 5. This sad recital can be continued to more recent times, but let us skip them and come to the present day.

On 11 February protests took place at the arrest two days previously by military police, by resort to the Army Act, of the defeated Joint Opposition candidate at the Presidential election, a recently retired General. Demonstrators were physically attacked by government supporters who to all appearances were well prepared with sticks and large stones. Several persons including policemen were reportedly injured, and the police used teargas. The version carried in the government-controlled Daily News that the demonstrators were targeting the Supreme Court and therefore had to be dispersed is hard to credit since the procession towards the Courts complex was connected with the presentation of a petition to the Supreme Court by the wife of the detained General challenging his arrest.

CRM has always recognised the right not only of peaceful protest but also of peaceful counter protest. When the counter demonstrators are government supporters there is a special responsibility on the government, and on law enforcement officers, to act strictly impartially, and to see that opposition demonstrators are given protection and are not attacked by the others. �For government supporters feel they can flout the law with impunity, and indeed some leaders may encourage them to do so. Similarly there are always some police officers who are reluctant to be firm with persons whom they believe to enjoy political patronage�. (CRM The 5th June Protest and Counter Protest, July 1980).

The tolerance of opposing views, not merely by governments and politicians, but by all the diverse elements that make up our society including each and every individual, is vital for us all. As the late Justice Mark Fernando said, �� stifling the peaceful expression of legitimate dissent today can only result, inexorably, in the catastrophic explosion of violence some other day�. We have seen this happen in our past; let us even at this stage try to secure a future where justice and dignity prevail

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/02/attacks-on-peaceful-protest.html

Police remove public address system of the opposition rally

Wednesday, 03 February 2010

The police have removed the public address system intended to be used at the mass rally that had been organized at Hyde Park today (3rd) to protest against the fraudulent presidential election. A permit to use a public address system had been issued earlier but just before the rally started� the police took measures to cancel the permit.

When the organizers of the rally inquired from the police why the permit given earlier was cancelled they had said they had got orders from the �top.�

Also, people who came in a demonstration to join the rally were obstructed by the police and there was police harassment throughout the period the rally was held

http://www.lankatruth.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4636:police-remove-public-address-system-of-the-opposition-rally&catid=35:local&Itemid=62

NSLJA express concern on post election violence

February 2, 2010 by NSLJA
North Sri Lanka Journalists Association (NSLJA) expresses is grave concern on increasing violence against media and opposition political activists in the election post period. We earnestly hope that normalcy will return to whole country and rule of law will prevail which is a necessary pre condition for long awaited peace and reconciliation.

North of Sri Lanka has witnessed peoples rights being violated for a long time, our media and journalists faced unprecedented repression during the last few years. We express solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the south of Sri Lanka, who are undergoing the same situation we faced for a long time. We express our contentment that ban on Lanka newspaper has been lifted by the judiciary and hope that its editor Chandana Sirimalwattaa will be released soon. NSLJA condemn all acts against media unconditionally.

We express our concern that pre election period too was marred by violence unleashed against political opponents, a trend Tamil people has witnessed for such a long time.

The bomb explosions took place within the Jaffna peninsula on the day of the 2010 Presidential Election brought wartime memories to the people and fears of a violence-filled poll. It discouraged the people from voting who had voted in earlier elections solely on the question of war and peace.

Tamil media in Jaffna gave an unprecedented prominence to the visiting ministers and their programmes with a large number of war-affected people seeking relief for tracing their missing relatives or compensation for their lost property. This led to a situation where journalists in the peninsula paid little attention to carrying the message of other candidates towards the people.

It is commendable the journalists carried out their duties with a sense of responsibility despite the risks they faced but the people were largely fearful about expressing their political opinion publicly. It must be mentioned that inadequate transport facilities and security checks caused delays for journalists to go around polling booths to report on the election.

This election period brought the memories of qualitative peninsula journalism which boasts of a long history and its eminent stalwarts. It was clear that we are yet to achieve those standards after long years of war. At the same time we need to remind that 15 journalists and media workers have been killed in peninsula in recent past. Many experienced journalists have fled the country or left the journalism for safety of their lives. All these acts of violence against Jaffna media has taken it toll.

We urge the government to launch fresh investigations to all the journalists killed in North during the last few years, bring the culprits to book and to show by example that government is willing to establish the rule of law.

Therefore we expect President Mahinda Rajapaksa who has been re-elected to the office to ensure that the peninsula journalists will enjoy the media freedom in order help the people and people�s organisations to shed their fear to express their political opinion freely.