Sri Lankan journalist attacked ‘with iron bars’

By Mel Gunasekera
An ethnic Tamil journalist in Sri Lanka’s formerly embattled north was brutally attacked with iron bars, police said on Saturday, the latest in a string of assaults on the nation’s media.Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan, news editor of the Tamil-language daily Uthayan, was attacked by a gang of men wielding iron bars on Friday near his home in the area formerly held by separatist Tamil rebels, police said.
“The man is in intensive care in hospital” with serious head injuries, police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody told AFP, adding no arrests had yet been made.

At least six workers at the Jaffna-based Uthayan newspaper, including four journalists, have been killed since 2006 over its alleged pro-nationalist Tamil stance.

“This attack is aimed at scaring our employees so they will leave journalism,” Uthayan’s publisher E. Sarvanapavan told AFP.

The opposition Tamil National Alliance legislator said he believed the assault was in response to a recent sweeping win by his party in local council elections.

The council polls were the first held in the area since Sri Lanka inflicted a crushing military defeat on Tamil Tiger rebels, with whom the TNA was closely linked, in 2009.

“Attacking Kuhanathan is not the democratic way to behave in defeat. The paper’s coverage gave equal coverage to the opposition and government,” said Sarvanapavan.

Some 17 journalists and media employees have been killed in Sri Lanka in the past decade, with none of the murders being solved, according to rights groups.

“For too long Sri Lankan authorities have been indifferent about the targeted attacks, killings and disappearances,” said the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in a statement.

“That must end,” said CPJ deputy director Robert Mahoney.

Attacks against journalists and news outlets have continued despite the end of the decades-long war between the military and rebels, said Mahoney.

The latest assault came a day after police found the body of Pattani Razeek, a human rights activist who disappeared in 2010. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday urged Sri Lanka to “expedite” investigations and prosecute those involved in the crime.

UN records show 5,653 outstanding “enforced and involuntary disappearances” in Sri Lanka. Among those missing is freelance journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda, who vanished on the eve of the 2010 presidential polls.
AFP

There is a right to paste posters –Courts say :Police disappointed and crestfallen

(Lanka-e-News, Oct.27, 2010, 11.50PM) When Hettiaratchi of the inter Companies Association was distributing leaflets this morning (27) in front of the Railway station, he was taken to the police station and questioned.

The Maradana Police station OIC had threatened Hettiarachi and yelled that he would not allow leaflets to be distributed in his police area under any circumstance. ‘You can go anywhere else and distribute’, the OIC has warned.

The OIC has also stated that these leaflets are damaging to the environment and if this is not stopped, he would have to arrest Hettiarachi, adding that these are not his directives, but orders received from the Govt.
We have a right to express our views. ‘If we are entitled to distribute papers, why should you arrest’, Hettiarachi has challenged the OIC.

It is interesting to note that when members of the Samastha lanka trade union conference were pasting posters against a group who had arrived in a Black Pajero claiming themselves as police officers and had threatened ‘Red Lanka’ newspaper journalist Sanjeewa Padmasiri, the Police had arrested some members of the Samastha Lanka union and produced them to Court against the poster pasting. But the Court had held that they have a right to paste posters and freed them.

http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=10198

Threats Against Exiled Journalist’s Family in Sri Lanka Must Cease

Threats Against Exiled Journalist’s Family in Sri Lanka Must Cease
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is outraged at continuing threats against the wife of journalist Gamini Pushpakumara, in exile from Sri Lanka since April after being dismissed as a producer with the state-owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) in January.
“The IFJ calls on the Sri Lankan authorities to identify those responsible for threats against Pushpakumara’s wife, Waruni Balasooriya, and to guarantee her safety,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

In July, the IFJ noted earlier threats made to the life of Balasooriya, who remains in Sri Lanka. Balasooriya lodged a complaint at a local police station, but by all accounts it was not acted upon.

Balasooriya has since shifted house for her own safety. However, on the evening of September 2 she had two unidentified visitors who spoke menacingly and vowed to find and kill Pushpakumara.

The two reportedly referred to Pushpakumara as a “traitor” and a “Sinhala Tiger” – in reference to the Tamil Tigers who were defeated in 2009 after a long civil war. He was accused of sending video footage and photographs of the last phases of the war to overseas media organisations with intent to entangle the Government of Sri Lanka in war crimes trials.

The threatening visitors accused Pushpakumara of acting in concert with General Sarath Fonseka, who was commander of the Sri Lankan army in the last phase of the war and challenged President Mahinda Rajapakse in presidential elections in January. Fonseka was arrested shortly after he lost the election in a polarised national vote, and recently stripped of his rank, pension and all benefits by a military court which found him guilty of conduct unbecoming.

Pushpakumara’s dismissal followed his leadership of a movement of SLRC staff demanding that prescribed norms on fair coverage for all candidates be followed by the state broadcaster, which was accused of tilting strongly toward the incumbent president.

The IFJ learns that Balasooriya has again complained to her local police station about the latest threats to her life, and encountered an uncooperative attitude from officials.

“The safety of Pushpakumara’s wife is a key indicator of the commitment of President Rajapakse’s regime, now invested with a fresh mandate, to restore the civil liberties that were seriously eroded during the civil war,” White said.

“Pushpakumara’s actions as a leader of the program producers’ association in SLRC were in line with prescribed norms of fairness in election coverage. Threats implying he was involved in the discovery of visual evidence of atrocities by Sri Lankan armed forces is consistent with a pattern of victimisation that began as retribution for his stand on a matter of professional ethics.”

Driver held over Lasantha murder requests for secret statement

Aug 19, 2010

Trishaw driver Sugath Perera, who has been held in remand custody for 1 ½ years over the murder of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickremetunga, today (August 19) sought permission to give a secret statement.

Mt. Lavinia Chief Magistrate Nirosha Fernando said that the request will be considered on September 02.

Speaking in court, the CID informed the magistrate that they were conducting an investigation on sms messages sent by five mobile phones which had sim cards purchased by a person in Nuwara Eliya using the same NIC.

http://colombotoday.com/english/articles/Lite/Driver-held-Lasantha-murder-requests-secret-statement/14299.htm

Arson attack, Editorial Daily Mirror

Saturday, 31 July 2010 00:00

Of course there are different versions to the story. However the fact remains that one needs some guts to send about dozen armed men to a media office located just a few hundred metres from the Temple Trees and throw bombs at it. The gang had also got the employees to kneel down and attacked them.

Gone are the days when one had to think twice, thrice or ten times to figure the culprits after an attack on media institutions. Those were the days of the LTTE and paramilitary groups and groups within the paramilitaries. However today everything has been narrowed down to A and B.

Of course the security lax in the city created by the removal of barriers has the potential to give ideas to any sinister element bent on creating havoc. People with all kind of agendas including the ones out to embarrass the government have the ability to make use of the alert free atmosphere to their advantage.

Still Hunupitiya Lake Road is too central for an ordinary gang to come in two vehicles, assault the employees and bomb the place and get away Scot-free. Two white cars are way too conspicuous to use in a high risk crime like an arson attack on a media company in the city centre. Yet one should not rule out anything here. There can always be smart ones who know how to carry out operations of this nature without leaving a trace behind.

Irrespective of the loyalties of the goons an attack on a media institution always put the government in bad light. After all it boils down to the issue of the law and order situation of the country and if goons can attack a media institution in the city, one located just a few hundred metres from the abode of the head of the state, one may ask what security guarantees are there for the rest of the countryman or should one say for the head of the State himself.

Media persons definitely are not a rare species. There are thousands of them and they certainly are not above the ordinary people of this country. However if not for media’s tab on the democratic values Sri Lanka would have been in a terrible shape by today. The people would have been far worse off. Any attack on media therefore should be considered an attack on the people in this country.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/editorial/106-editorial/17150.html

Sri Lanka’s main opposition condemns attack on private TV station

Sat, Jul 31, 2010, 12:12 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

July 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) has condemned the attack on the private TV station Siyatha in Colombo today.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake in a statement condemned the attack and said it could not be considered a coincidence as the group of men managed to enter the Siyatha TV premises located in the heart of Colombo without any obstructions.

He has further noted that it was not a coincidence that the group of men after threatening and attacking the employees, were be able to pinpoint the important areas in the building and set them on fire using petrol bombs.

Attanayake has also noted that over the past years journalists and media institutions have come under repeated attacks and some have even been kidnapped and murdered.

The Siyatha TV office came under attack in the early hours of Friday when a group of unidentified men stormed the office, assaulted its employees, and set fire to the premises. Two employees sustained serious injuries during the attack.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_10B/Jul31_1280515363JR.php

Gang torches Sri Lanka broadcaster’s office

30 Jul 2010 11:Source: Reuters
By Ranga Sirilal and Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO, July 30 (Reuters) – An unidentified gang set fire to a Sri Lankan broadcaster owned by a businessman who had backed the opposition in a presidential election, destroying its main control room, police said on Friday.

The arson attack on the Siyatha media group forced broadcasting to stop and hurt at least one person, police and a witness said. Siyatha has a TV channel and three radio stations.

A witness said the gang held one journalist and a news editor at gunpoint before burning the control room.

“Once the gang left, I saw the security guard had fallen unconscious with blood on his head,” said a Siyatha journalist who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal. “They just came, attacked, burnt and went within 15 minutes.”

The attack echoed one that destroyed the main control room of the island nation’s largest private broadcaster MBC/MTV, viewed by the government as a pro-opposition outlet.

Siyatha was a pro-government media channel, but its owner backed the opposition at the last presidential polls, in which President Mahinda Rajapaksa was overwhelmingly re-elected.

The owner has since left the country and his brother was at the time the head of the country’s Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, but was replaced soon afterward.

Later, the government stopped all advertising from state institutions to the broadcaster, forcing financially-hit Siyatha to close down a weekly newspaper.

Rights group blame Sri Lanka’s government for tolerating or orchestrating attacks on media institutions and the harassment, assault or even the murder of journalists deemed critical of it.

Rajapaksa has vowed to bring perpetrators to justice, but so far no one has been held accountable for dozens of attacks. (Writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Bryson Hull and Sanjeev Miglani)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SGE66T0UO.htm

Siyatha to go on air

Friday, 30 July 2010
By Indika Sri Aravinda

The Siyatha television station which was attacked earlier today will go on air using its test transmission till it resumes normal broadcasts sometime next week, Roshantha Kariyapperuma Chairman of Voice of Asia, the broadcasting company of Siyatha TV told Daily Mirror online.

More than 40 computers, several air-conditioning units and other electronic equipment have been damaged due to the fire. The Main Control Room (MCR) of the Siyatha television was also damaged so the network is unable to broadcast at the moment. The radio stations also have been interrupted

There were no threats against the radio and TV stations, we have not insured the equipment as well, Kariyapperuma said.

Meanwhile Director General of Government Information, Ariyaratne Athugala stated that usually if a radio or television station did not   broadcast for 24 hours the broadcast license could be revoked and that the station could be taken over by the government.

However he noted that in the case of Siyatha because of the special circumstances such action will not be taken. (Daily Mirror online)

http://www.dailymirror.lk/index.php/news/5461-siyatha-to-go-on-air.html

Armed men set fire to TV station in Colombo

TamilNet, Friday, 30 July 2010
Twelve armed men clad in black uniforms forcefully entered the private TV channel Siyatha TV office and assaulted the security guard and set fire to the station and caused severe damage to the equipment on Friday at 1.30 am. The station belongs to former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Mr. Priyantha Kariyapperuma.

Mr. Kariyapermuma was earlier a close associate of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa, but he was sacked from his post week before the presidential election by the SL President.

The office and the transmitting station at Hunupitiya Lake Road, Colombo 02 are located in the vicinity of the high security zone where Mahinda Rajapaksa’s residence Temple Trees is also located.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=32316

No unconditional extention of GSP +

D (2010)
Press Release

The Delegation of the European Union to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka & the Maldives would like to clarify information which has appeared in several press articles related to the ongoing dialogue on GSP plus between the European Commission and the Government of Sri Lanka.
Contrary to these articles, the date of 15 August on which Sri Lanka would cease to benefit from GSP+ will not be extended unconditionally.
Actually, the European Commission has informed the Government of Sri Lanka of its readiness to propose to the Council of the European Union to maintain GSP plus preferences for Sri Lanka for a limited additional period, subject to a clear and written commitment by the Government of Sri Lanka to undertake a well defined number of human rights related actions, within a 6 months time frame beginning in July of this year, and to provide reassurances as to the sustainability of progress registered under the GSP plus dialogue.
Only if a written commitment to this effect has been made by the Government of Sri Lanka, by 1 July 2010, would the European Commission put such a proposal to the Council of the European Union, without prejudice to the final decision.

Press Office
Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives
Tel: + 94 112674413, + 94 777 866636
Email: delegation-sri-lanka@ec.europa.eu
Web: www.dellka.ec.europa.eu