Freed Sri Lankan journalist Tissainayagam arrives in U.S.

by Committee to Protect Journalists

New York, June 19, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalist welcomes the arrival in the United States of Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who arrived at Washington’s Dulles International Airport on Saturday morning.

tissa.cpj620.jpgHe was met there by friends. According to CPJ representative Kamel Labidi, who was on hand to meet Tissa, “He was all smiles, and said to thank everyone who helped him gain his freedom.”

“Tissainayagam’s arrival in the United States is very welcome news, and we join in the joy that he and his wife Ronnate are feeling,” said Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director. “We hope his arrival in the U.S. is a step by the government to address its harsh policies toward the media—policies that have not changed since the end of Sri Lanka’s more than 30 years of civil conflict.”

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, the government announced that it would grant Tissainayagam a presidential pardon. Tissainayagam had been released on bail in January and had lived in seclusion in Sri Lanka since. The Tamil editor was first jailed in March 2008 and eventually indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in August 2008.

So far, the Sri Lankan government has made no official statement about the terms of his release, and Tissainayagam and his wife have made no public statements

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2010/06/freed_sri_lankan_journalist_ti.html

In cynical gesture, Sri Lankan president pardons journalist

By Vilani Peiris
12 May 2010

Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister, G.L. Peiris, announced at a press conference last week that President Mahinda Rajapakse had decided to grant a pardon to journalist J.S. Tissanayagam to mark World Press Freedom Day. Tissanayagam was convicted on trumped-up charges last August and sentenced to 20 years jail with hard labour in a decision that provoked outrage in Sri Lanka and internationally.

The terms of the pardon are still not clear, but include the withdrawal of Tissanayagam’s appeal against his original conviction. Tissanayagam has always denied the charges, laid under the country’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), that he had through his articles incited communal disharmony and brought the government into disrepute, and had raised funds for “terrorism”—that is, the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The president’s decision to pardon Tissanayagam is a cynical gesture aimed at blunting criticism of the government’s democratic rights abuses and currying international favour, particularly with the US and European powers. In the months leading up to the LTTE’s defeat last May, the US and the European Union expressed “concerns” about human rights as a means of countering China’s growing influence in Colombo. The EU has resolved to stop GSP+ tariff concessions for Sri Lankan exports from August over the issue.

Last week the newly elected government also eased aspects of the state of emergency, including limitations on public marches and meetings, curfews and some media restrictions. At the same time, President Rajapakse retained key emergency powers, including to detain people without trial and to ban industrial action. The cosmetic character of the changes is underlined by the fact that the security forces continue to hold at least 11,700 young Tamil men and women indefinitely without charge as “terrorist suspects”.

External Affairs Minister Peiris denied that the easing of the state of emergency was connected to the government’s attempts to thaw relations with the West. But the choice of Peiris, who is known for his pro-Western sympathies, as foreign minister was aimed at appeasing the US and European powers. His first task is to retain the GSP+ tariff concessions in order to protect the country’s garment industry and shore up the heavily indebted economy.

Washington appears to have got the message. The US embassy in Colombo issued a statement welcoming Tissanayagam’s pardon, declaring: “It is fitting that the announcement came on World Press Freedom Day, which celebrates the vital role a free media plays in every democracy.” A report published last December by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations had already signalled a move away from concerns about human rights in Sri Lanka to “a broader and more robust approach to Sri Lanka that appreciates new political and economic realities in Sri Lanka and US geostrategic interests”.

Tissanayagam’s case involved a particularly glaring abuse of basic democratic rights. He was a columnist for the Sunday Times and editor of the Outreach web site and North Eastern Monthly. He was arrested on March 7, 2008 when he visited the police Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to ask about two of his colleagues—the publisher of the North Eastern Monthly, Jaseetharan, and Tissanayagam’s wife Valarmathy.

Tissanayagam was detained on an order issued by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the president’s brother, under the PTA and held without charge for six months. His arrest took place as the Rajapakse government intensified its war against the LTTE in which thousands of civilians were killed and maimed. Pro-government death squads had killed scores of people, including journalists. Tissanayagam had first-hand knowledge of these crimes, which he sharply criticised.

In August 2008, Tissanayagam was charged on the basis of a confession extracted by TID interrogators, who are notorious for the use of torture. Under the PTA, a confession can be used in court. Tissanayagam later retracted the confession, saying it had been written under duress. “The police officer dictated to me and forced me to write the statement which has now become my confession,” he told the court.

During his trial, Tissanayagam said he had spoken out against all forms of terrorism and human rights violations. He pointed out that he had collected information on widespread human rights abuses between 1988 and 1990 when the United National Party government unleashed a reign of terror against rural youth in southern Sri Lanka.

The court nevertheless convicted Tissanayagam on August 31 and sentenced him to 20 years rigorous imprisonment. He was the first journalist convicted under the PTA. Last October, the attorney general’s department agreed to the release of Jaseetharan and Tissanayagam’s wife Valarmathy on the condition that they withdraw a fundamental rights case in the Supreme Court.

Tissanayagam was bailed out in January pending an appeal against his conviction filed by his lawyers in the Court of Appeal. The judge granted bail but impounded the journalist’s passport. The government did not oppose the bail application.

Tissanayagam’s pardon in no way addresses the government’s past and continuing abuses of democratic rights. At least 14 journalists and media workers have been killed by pro-government thugs since Rajapakse first won the presidency in November 2005. Many others were harassed, detained and in some cases beaten up, forcing about a dozen to flee the country.

In January last year, Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the opposition Sunday Leader, was killed in broad daylight as he drove to work in the suburbs of Colombo. Just two days earlier, an armed gang broke into the MTV/Sirasa building in the early hours of the morning and ransacked its studio and offices.

During the campaigns for the presidential election in January and the parliamentary poll in April, the Rajapakse government shamelessly used the state-owned media as its propaganda tool and continued the crackdown on political opponents and critics.

After the presidential election, the government detained defeated opposition candidate, retired general Sarath Fonseka and his supporters, on vague allegations that he had planned a coup against Rajapakse. He is currently being tried by two military courts-martial on charges that he engaged in political activities while in uniform and was involved in corruption over military procurements.

Police also arrested Chandana Sirimalwatte, editor of the opposition Lanka newspaper. Prageeth Eknaligoda, a journalist with the Lanka-e-news website, has been missing since January 24. The website itself has been blocked as part of the government’s growing efforts to censor the Internet.

Significantly, President Rajapakse has appointed Keheliya Rambukwella, previously employment minister and the government’s defence spokesman, as media minister. He is well known for vociferously defending the war against the LTTE and the criminal actions of the military.

The author also recommends:

Sri Lanka: New government threat against the media
[30 April 2010]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/may2010/sril-m12.shtml

Sri Lanka Urged to Confirm Restoration of Tissainayagam’s Rights – IFJ

Media Release: Sri Lanka
May 6, 2010

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is awaiting details and verification that senior Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam will receive a full presidential pardon for his conviction on charges of “causing communal disharmony”.

The IFJ wishes to verify that the reported pardon for Tissainayagam is unconditional, and that Tissainayagam’s rights are fully restored, including his right to safety and protection.

“Tissainayagam, his family, colleagues and the international community require official confirmation that Tissainayagam’s full civil, political and human rights have been restored and he is able to live and work freely and safely,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

Tissainayagam was first detained in March 2008. He was held for more than five months until being charged in August 2008 under anti-terror and emergency laws. He was accused of attempting to cause racial or communal disharmony through his articles on human rights issues published in the North-Eastern Monthly in 2006 and 2007.

Tissainayagam was convicted on August 31 last year to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment under Sri Lanka’s draconian anti-terror and emergency laws. It was one of the harshest sentences ever imposed on a journalist in a democratic country, on the basis of the content of their professional work.

Tissainayagam was granted bail in January this year while awaiting an appeal trial.

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, Sri Lanka’s Minister for External Affairs, G.L. Peiris, reportedly told a press conference that President Mahinda Rajapaksa would pardon Tissainayagam.

However, the IFJ is yet to see official confirmation of the pardon and to confirm that all necessary judicial procedures have been enacted to restore his rights and provide assurance of his safety.

The IFJ urges Sri Lanka’s Government to clarify the details of the reported pardon as a high priority.

“The IFJ will be relieved if there is confirmation of a full and unconditional pardon, and there is assurance by the highest authorities in Sri Lanka that they will take responsibility for ensuring Tissainayagam’s right to safety is not violated,” White said.

The IFJ also calls on the international community and press freedom advocates to maintain their commitment and attention to Tissainayagam’s case to ensure his rights are fully restored.

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

The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 125 countries worldwide

MR pardons Tissainayagam

Monday, 03 May 2010
By Sumaiya Rizwi

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to pardon journalist J.S. Tissainayagam who is out on bail after being convicted on 31 August 2009 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, External Affairs Minister G.L Peiris told reporters a short while ago. He was given pardon on World Press Freedom Day which falls today.

“The President has taken this decision in view of World Press Freedom Day,” Prof. Peiris said and added that the decision to pardon Mr. Tissanayagam coincided with the discussion on the need to amend the emergency regulations.

Tissainayagam was convicted on three counts including editing, printing and distributing the publication North Eastern Monthly magazine during the period between June 1, 2006 and June 1, 2007. He was arrested in March 2008 and released on bail in January this year.

He stands charged on the count of inciting communal disharmony which was an offence punishable under Prevention of Terrorism Act. He was also convicted for collecting money to run the magazine and thereby furtherance of terrorism, an offence punishable under Emergency Regulations.

Tissainayagam was arrested in March 2008 when he visited the Terrorist Investigation Department in search of his colleague and publisher V. Jasikaran. He was held without charge for almost six months and then on August 25, he was charged with writing to incite ethnic disharmony.

The trial lasted one and a half years and Mr. Tissainayagam was convicted for 20 years hard labour on August 31. The case attracted attention within and outside the island nation. U.S. President Barrack Obama had said that he was concerned about threats against the media the world over, and mentioned the plight of Sri Lankan journalist J. S. Tissainayagam who has been detained for over a year. (Daily Mirror online)

USA state department 2009 Human Rights Report: Media freedom in Sri Lanka

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

The law provides for freedom of speech and of the press but in practice this was not always supported. The government owned the country’s largest newspaper chain, two major television stations, and a radio station. However, private owners operated a variety of independent newspapers, journals, and radio and television stations. The government imposed no political restrictions on the establishment of new media enterprises. While foreign media outlets operated in the country, some foreign journalists had their visas revoked or were asked to leave the country when they reported on sensitive issues in a manner that the government disliked.
Media freedom deteriorated in the Colombo area, as well as in the conflict-affected north and east. Most journalists practiced self-censorship. National and international media freedom organizations and journalists’ associations expressed concern over media freedom and were sharply critical of the Defense Ministry’s role in harassing and intimidating journalists and their lawyers.

Senior government officials repeatedly accused critical journalists of treason and often pressured editors and publishers to run stories that portrayed the government in a positive light. Lawyers who defended journalists were also threatened and pressured by defense and government officials.

In addition to high-profile killings, such as the death of the newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, media personnel were often subject to threats and harassment during the year. Statements by government and military officials contributed to an environment in which journalists who published articles critical of the government felt under threat.

On January 2, men in an unregistered white van burned the broadcasting station of MTV/MBC in Pannipitiya. The police failed to respond to requests for additional security, and four days later armed men, arriving in unregistered vans, destroyed the studio with guns, clubs, grenades, and a claymore mine. Five suspects were arrested two weeks later, but the magistrate granted them bail and alleged misconduct in the police investigation of the attack. No progress had been made in the case at year’s end.

On February 27, three men in civilian clothes and three men in police uniforms in a van abducted Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, editor of the Sudar Oli, a leading Tamil-language newspaper. After telephone calls by foreign diplomats to senior authorities, police announced that he had been arrested. Authorities held Vithyatharan until April 25, and then released him without charges.
On June 1, the head of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association Poddala Jayantha was abducted and severely beaten near Colombo. The attack seemed to have been encouraged by the government, which had aired photos of journalists–including a close-up of Jayantha–during comments by the Inspector General of Police Jayantha Wickramaratne, who called journalists traitors who would be dealt with.

On August 30, a court convicted and sentenced journalist J.S. Tissainayagam to 20 years in prison with hard labor. A number of witnesses testified that his articles did not incite intercommunal tension, the primary charge against him, and there were doubts about the source of changes made to his written confession. His conviction represented the first time that a journalist had been convicted under the PTA for their writings. As international criticism of Tissainayagam’s conviction mounted, government officials made new accusations against him but offered no new evidence and filed no additional formal charges.

On several occasions during the year, copies of the Economist newsmagazine were confiscated by government authorities at the international airport, preventing their release to the magazine′s local distributor. This occurred when articles in the issue were critical of the government.

On July 9, the government officially reactivated the Press Council Act of 1973. This act, which includes power to fine and/or impose punitive measures including lengthy prison terms, proscribed the publishing of articles that discussed internal communications of the government and decisions of the cabinet, matters relating to the military that could affect national security, and details of economic policy that could lead to artificial shortages or speculative price increases. Several demonstrations by journalists took place throughout the latter part of the year against the resurrection of this council.

Internet Freedom

There appeared to be some limited government restrictions on access to the Internet, including suspicions that the government was behind the blocking of Internet access to several Tamil news Web sites, including the pro-LTTE TamilNet.

High-speed Internet was available in major cities and towns, with more widespread use among younger populations. Cell phone use, including text-messaging, was high across a broad spectrum of society. The government did not restrict short message service (SMS) or cell phone usage.

According to International Telecommunication Union statistics for 2008, approximately 5.8 percent of the country’s inhabitants used the Internet.

Academic Freedom and Cultural Events

There were no reports of government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Freedom of Assembly

The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the government generally respected this right in practice; however, some restrictions existed. For example, the 2005 emergency regulations gave the president the power to restrict meetings, assemblies, and processions. The law states that rallies and demonstrations of a political nature could not be held when a referendum was scheduled, but the government generally granted permits for demonstrations, including those by opposition parties and minority groups.

Freedom of Association

The law provides for freedom of association, and the government generally respected this right in practice; however, some restrictions existed, such as those under the emergency regulations. The government often used informants to target individuals for arrests and interrogation based on their association.

Before the end of the conflict, the LTTE did not allow freedom of association in the areas it controlled.

c. Freedom of Religion

Although there was no state religion, the law accords Buddhism a foremost position. It also provides for the right of members of other faiths to practice their religions freely, and the government generally respected this right in practice. The majority of citizens were followers of Buddhism. The Ministry of Religious Education and Moral Uplift Islamic section monitored the doctrinal content of Islamic teachings at mosques in an effort to prevent “extremist” viewpoints from gaining traction among Muslim congregations. The ministry also administered an Islamic charity funded by new mosque registrations. The Buddhist section did not regulate the content of Buddhist religious observances. All new religious buildings are required to register with the government.

Foreign clergy could work in the country, but the government sought to limit the number of foreign religious workers given temporary work permits. Permission usually was restricted to denominations registered with the government.

While the courts generally upheld the right of Christian groups to worship and to construct facilities to house their congregations, local authorities manipulated rules to prevent registration of new Christian denominations or construction or expansion of worship facilities. The Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that although the constitution supported the right of individuals to practice any religion, it did not support the right to proselytize.
For full report : http://www.lankanewsweb.com/EN_FEATURE/FEATURE_10_03_12_001.html

Sri Lankan Government Heightens Intimidation Campaign Against Voices of Dissent

Washington
March 10, 2010

With less than a month to go before parliamentary elections, Freedom House condemns the Sri Lankan government’s latest attempts to intimidate human rights defenders and journalists, including Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) director Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu and the executive director of Transparency International Sri Lanka, J.C. Weliamuna.

The Sri Lankan intelligence service has reportedly compiled a list of 35 human rights defenders and journalists, assigning them numerical ratings based on their levels of dissent. According to CPA, Saravanamuttu and Weliamuna are “at the top” of the list due to “perceived or alleged political allegiances.” Media reports in the past three weeks have reported government allegations about allegedly “misused” funds at Transparency International, as well preposterous claims that local and international civil society organizations are working to destabilize Sri Lanka.

“In the run up to the legislative elections slated for April, the Sri Lankan government is clearly trying to divert criticism from itself after the egregious violations perpetrated against the press and other opposition candidates during the recent presidential election,” said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House. According to Windsor, “This is yet another example of the government acting with impunity and trying to discredit voices of dissent.”

Allegations of the misuse of state-run media were widely reported during the recent presidential election. Opposition candidate, and former army chief, Sarath Fonseka, continues to be imprisoned after being arrested and charged with sedition a month ago.

Additionally, in recent years, dozens of journalists and activists have fled the country due to a culture of impunity and intimidation that has worsened since the January presidential election. Journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda of Lanka eNews disappeared on January 24 and remains missing, despite calls for a timely and serious investigation into his case. On March 9, the parliament voted to extend emergency regulations, which have been widely used to target activists, until after next month’s legislative elections.

“These new threats by the Sri Lankan government clearly reflect the increasingly dangerous environment for journalists and other human rights activists,” said Karin Karlekar, managing editor of Freedom House’s annual Freedom of the Press survey. “Over the last three years, Sri Lanka’s rating has slipped from 121st to 155th place worldwide, reflecting a dramatic deterioration in the space for local media and activists to carry out their professional activities.”

Sri Lanka is ranked Partly Free in Freedom in the World 2010, Freedom House’s survey of political rights and civil liberties, and Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2009.

For more information on Sri Lanka, visit:

Freedom of the Press 2009: Sri Lanka

Freedom in the World 2009: Sri Lanka

Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

http://www.freedomhouse.org/printer_friendly.cfm?page=70&release=1153

UN Human Rights High Commissioner on suppression of media freedom in Sri Lanka

4th March Geneva

In Sri Lanka the opportunity for peace and Reconciliation continuous to be marred by the treatment of journalists, human rights defenders and critics of the Government. I am convinced that  Sri Lanka should undertake a full reckoning of the grave violations committed by all sides during the war, and the international community can be helpful in this regard.

- form the Introduction to the Annual report,  read the full report here as PDF:UN High Commissioner statement_Introduction to the annual Rpt_04.03.10

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

One freed, but what about the others silenced in Sri Lanka?

By Bob Dietz/Asia Program Coordinator

With Monday’s release  of J. S. Tissainayagam on bail, maybe things are looking up for the media in Sri Lanka. CPJ welcomed Tissainayagam’s release from a sentence of 20 years’ “rigorous imprisonment,” but called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa to extend him a full pardon, as it is within his presidential powers to do. For now, at least, Tissa, as he is known, is out of his prison cell though not free to leave the country—the appeal court that set him free demanded that he hand over his passport as part of the bail agreement. But there are many other cases still hanging in the air in Sri Lanka that will not go away, even though they are making their way through the courts.

Last week, a friend in Sri Lanka forwarded me a story from the country’s Daily Mirror that reported from court documents about the murder weapon used in the January 2009 killing of The Sunday Leader’s editor-in-chief, Lasantha Wickramatunga. The investigation into Wickramatunga’s death is still moving ahead, glacially, in the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court in Colombo. The coroner’s autopsy (in Sri Lanka it’s called the Judicial Medical Officer’s (JMO) Report) was never released, though the court had recorded the cause of death as gun shot injuries. The Daily Mirror reported:

“The JMO who conducted the post mortem inquiry had revealed Lasantha’s death had been caused not due to gunshot injuries, but injuries caused to his head with a sharp weapon. The cause of death as gunshot injuries had apparently been recorded based on entries made by the medical officer who recorded his admission to the hospital.”

It may seem gruesome, but there is great significance in the specifics of how the well-known editor was killed. When CPJ first reported Wickramatunga’s death on January 8, 2009, we quoted The Sunday Leader’s staffers as saying he was killed with guns equipped with silencers. They said that witnesses at the scene—he was killed at around 10 a.m. on a busy road while on his way to work by eight men on four motorcycles—heard no gunshots fired, which they would have surely heard even over the busy traffic noises at the intersection where he had been forced to pull over.

“His assailants bashed in the window of the car before shooting him in the chest and head, according to colleagues and local and international news reports,” we said in our initial alert on the day he was killed.

CPJ repeated those assumptions in subsequent alerts and blogs, and it wasn’t until I got to Colombo in February that I began to be told a more horrible angle to the story. I was working on a CPJ special report, Failure to Investigate, an investigation not only into Wickramatunga’s killing, but the January 6 attack on Sirasa TV, and the January 23 attack on another newspaper editor, Upali Tennakoon and his wife, Dhammika.

Several sources, all of whom insisted on anonymity, told me that Wickramatunga was killed not by gunshots, but by piercing his skull with a “sharp pointed metal rod” and that the other weapons used were pointed wooden poles. Convinced by the sources’ access and integrity, we reported the murder weapon as a metal pole in Failure to Investigate.

The sourcing had been bolstered after I interviewed Tennakoon and his wife in the hospital room where he was recovering from his wounds—Dhammika had also been injured, but not as seriously. They said the four men on two motorcycles who attacked them used wooden and iron poles similar to those described by our sources, who were working from the evidence they had from Wickramatunga’s wounds, not from evidence at the scene of the crime. One of the attackers also stabbed at Upali with a knife, but it was deflected and only nicked his stomach.

The next hearing in Wickramatunga’s case will be on January 21.

This is a two-part blog entry. Tomorrow, I’ll talk about the relevance of these cases to the elections coming up on January 26, and why it is not likely that the anti-media atmosphere that was part of the government’s all-out effort to win the war with Tamil secessionists is not likely to end soon

http://cpj.org/blog/2010/01/one-freed-but-what-about-the-others-silenced-in-sr.php

Media demo against govt. failure to find killers of journalists

Rajapaksha - Fonseka; we want media freedom

by Zacki Jabbar

Eight media organizations are scheduled to demonstrate at the Lipton Circus in Colombo today (12) against the government’s failure to punish those responsible for the killings and attacks on journalists.

Assistant Secretary of the Free Media Movement Dileesha Abeysundera told The Island that the picket, while protesting against the violation of media rights in general will highlight the killing of Sunday Leader Editor, Lasantha Wickremetunga in broad daylight, while he was on his way to work on January 8 last year.

“The damage caused to MTV studios, in Depanama Pannipitya, by a group of armed men, prior to the killing of Lasantha, and the lack of progress in the police investigations’, will also be drawn attention to.m
The demonstration has been organized by the Free Media Movement, Working Journalists Association, Editors Guild, Tamil Media Forum, Muslim Media Forum, Federation of Media Employees Trade Union, South Asia Free Media Association-Sri Lanka Chapter and the Newspaper Owners Association.

no more lies, bring the killlers to justice