‘Quiet diplomacy’ does not work with Sri Lanka – Tissainayagam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 03:01 GMT]
Economic aid should be linked to press freedom in Sri Lanka, veteran Tamil journalist J. S. Tissainayagam, who was released from government custody by international pressure earlier this year, said Wednesday. In his first interview since his release, Mr. Tissainayagam rejected arguments that ‘quiet diplomacy’ would achieve better conduct from President Mahinda Rajapakse regime, and said “the more pressure that is put publicly, the more the government is willing to act”. He linked his own release directly to the government’s then efforts to retain the EU’s GSP+ trade concessions. Tissainayagam is currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University Journalism School in Boston.

Tissainayagam’s first interview after
release from Sri Lanka’s incarceration
Mr. Tissainayagam’s first interview since he was released, was conducted by the international media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Speaking about press freedom today in Sri Lanka, Mr. Tissainayagam said, “the situation is very dire. … Dissent is what the government fears.”

There is a lack of physical security for journalists, he said, referring to those who have been killed, disappeared and incarcerated.

“There are also legal aspects,” he said, referring to the Emergency Regulations, which allows the government to detain and imprison reporters.

Consequently, there is “extensive self-censorship amongst reporters and editors, who fear to say what they feel and believe,” he said.

“I think one of the most important things is to keep up the pressure on the government,” Mr. Tissainayagam said.

“I can speak of my own case, where I was sentenced to 20 years hard labour for what I’ve written. I know that my freedom, my release, was linked to the GSP+ issue sometime ago.”

“The European Union could use that as a bargaining chip for my release, which eventually forced the Sri Lanka government to first give me bail and then finally a presidential pardon.”

Mr. Tissainayagam went on to say:

“I think it’s very important that economic aid is linked to press freedom in Sri Lanka. … That is the way pressure could be put on Sri Lanka.

“Certainly I can say in my own case it did make a difference.”

“I believe that publicity does help a lot, contrary to what the government says.”

“[They say] don’t talk about it, if there is quiet diplomacy, we will be more receptive to your demands

“But I don’t believe that is true. I believe that the more shaming that is done, the more pressure that is put is put publicly, the more the government is willing to act”

“… If media organisations can continue to do that, it will be very helpful, it will be very helpful on the ground”.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33038

Tissainayagam speaks at 2010 Mackler Award ceremony

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2010, 02:31 GMT]
2009 recipient of the prestigious Peter Mackler Award, Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagma, who was incarcerated in Sri Lanka prison for his writing, and was unable to receive the award in 2009, spoke at the 2010 Award ceremony held Friday at 6:00 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Tissainayagam was announced as the Award’s first recipient on August 31, 2009, the same day he was convicted on terrorism charges relating to his work as a journalist. 2010 Mackler award winner is a 24-year old Russian, Ilya Barabanov, the deputy editor of the New Times, an opposition magazine in Russia. Tissainayagam was previously hailed by US President Barack Obama as an “emblematic example” of journalists who are persecuted for their craft.

J.S. Tissainayagam
J.S. Tissainayagam
Tissainayagam arrived in the U.S. in August 2010, and was met by his wife Ronnate who was in the U.S. working with human rights organizations including Reporters Without Borders to secure her husband’s release. Tissainayagam is currently a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University Journalism School in Boston.

Tissainayagam praised Barabanov’s work in Russia, and said that while Russia and Sri Lanka are countries with different culture and people, the threats journalists face in both countries are similar. Tissainayagam mentioned the names of Lasantha Wickremetunge, the editior of Sunday Leader who was bludgeoned to death on 8th January 2009, Mayilvaganam Nimalarajan, who was gunned down on 19th October 2000, and Prageeth Ekneligoda of Lanka E-News who disappeared on January 24 2010, and have not been located since, as stark evidence of journalist oppression in Sri Lanka.

Tissainayagam added that fellow journalists in countries outside authoritarian regimes are the main hope to keep the pressure on these governments spotlighting the dangers journalists face in those countries.

Tissainayagam said that the decreasing emphasis in investigative journalism in the U.S. and in other western countries due to the shortage of funds and support resources is a major concern for journalists. He cautioned that with focus mainly on countries where there is on-going war with the US, coverage of events in remote parts of the world will not receive the attention they deserve to the detriment of journalists living and working in these countries.

Barabanov addressed the gathering in Russian with live English translation.

Ilya Barabanov is deputy editor of Novoye Vremya (New Times) which has been the target of an attempted illegal search and a lawsuit by the Russian government. Barabanov, 24, has decried the aborted search & seizure of The New Times editorial offices. He charged that the search, carried out in connection with a case filed against the news weekly by the Russian interior minister’s OMON security forces, violated Articles 41 and 49 of the Russian Media Law.

Harvard website said the following about Nieman fellows on the program’s website: “Some have escaped harsh regimes where censorship, threats of torture and imprisonment, physical violence or worse is too often the fate of practicing journalists. The Nieman Foundation has provided a safe haven to some of these imperiled journalists, providing a nurturing environment of support and encouragement. International journalists now comprise half of all Nieman classes.”

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=32851

Tissanayagam FR withdrawn

Monday, 06 September 2010
By S.S. Selvanayagam

Senior Journalist J.S. Tissainayagam’s counsel today moved to withdraw the Fundamental Rights (FR) application filed by his client as he had received a presidential pardon.

The Bench comprising Justices Saleem Marsoof, S.I. Imam and R.K. Suresh Chandra granted permission for the withdrawal of the FR petition.

President’s counsel Romesh de Silva with J.C. Weliamuna, M.A. Sumanthiran and Gehan Gunatillake instructed by Lilanthi de Silva appeared for Mr. Tissainayagam while senior state counsel K.P. Ranasinghe with state counsel Prabodini Munasinghe appeared for the respondents.

Court had earlier granted leave to proceed with the rights violation petition for the alleged infringement of his fundamental rights to freedom from torture, equality and equal protection of the law and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.

Mr. Tissainayagam had cited Inspector Prasanna de Alwis, TID Director Nandana Munasinghe the Police Chief, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Attorney General as respondents.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/index.php/news/6370-fr-withdrawn.html

Why the media silence on Sri Lanka’s descent into dictatorship?

Local journalists who speak out against human rights abuses fear for their lives and the world press turns a blind eye

Edward Mortimer

It is now over a year since the president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, claimed victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But war is still being waged on the “paradise island” – by the government, against the country’s journalists.

Last week alone saw one media outlet receive a threatening letter and the head of another charged with fraud by the supreme court after publishing stories critical of the government. And two international NGO workers involved in protecting journalists had their visas revoked.

The situation has been deteriorating for some time. According to Amnesty International at least 14 media workers have been killed in the country since 2006 and more than 20 are thought to have fled – more per capita than have left Iran. Arbitrary arrests, abductions and assassinations have been documented for over three decades. No one has ever been prosecuted for these attacks on the media.

In January last year, as the Sri Lankan army closed in on the last remaining pockets of resistance held by the LTTE, the government imposed a media blackout on the war zone. (It also denied humanitarian access to civilians trapped by the fighting and, like the rebels, displayed callous contempt for civilian life.)

Away from the killing fields, the local media suffered a sharp spike in attacks. Just days after independent broadcaster MTV was raided by gunmen, Lasantha Wickrematunge – editor of the Sunday Leader and prominent government critic – was assassinated in broad daylight in a high-security zone regularly patrolled by the army.

The end of the war has changed nothing. Phones are tapped. Emails hacked. Media outlets harassed and journalists threatened. One – Prageeth Eknaligoda – has been missing since January’s presidential election. Small wonder that so many journalists say they now resort to self-censorship.

And they are not the only ones who live in fear. NGO workers, lawyers, members of the opposition – the culture of impunity puts them all at risk. The state has also ramped up its vitriol against external critics: last week a cabinet minister began a hunger strike and orchestrated a siege of the UN offices in Colombo in response to the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, setting up a panel of experts to advise him on accountability for alleged war crimes during the final stages of the civil war last year. The minister has since ended his “fast to death” amid growing speculation that the protests were supported, if not sponsored, by the government.

All this is happening under the noses of the world’s press. While burning effigies of Ban draw the spotlight for a few days, Sri Lanka’s slow descent into dictatorship has mostly gone unnoticed. Global media coverage of the conflict in Sri Lanka during the past four years is about a tenth of that given to Iraq. In 2009, the New York Times and the Guardian devoted four times more space to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza (death toll 1,400) than the bloody end of Sri Lanka’s civil war (estimates range between 7,000 and 40,000 civilian dead). China Daily gave Gaza over six times the coverage, and the Independent Newspapers group in South Africa over 10 times. All papers ran more articles on Tiger Woods last year than on the Sri Lankan conflict.

This global silence plays into the hands of the Sri Lankan government’s apologists, both those who delude themselves and say, as one did in a meeting at London’s Frontline Club last week, that missing journalists have merely run off with mistresses, and those who are paid to delude others. The government has spent lavishly on public relations firms such as Bell Pottinger – which counts General Pinochet and Trafigura among its past clients – and its US subcontractor Qorvis, which also represents Equatorial Guinea’s unsavoury dictator. The pardoning on World Press Freedom Day of JS Tissainayagam, a journalist previously sentenced to 20 years’ hard labour, is part of this PR strategy.

All of us who care about universal values, and freedom of expression in particular, have a duty not to let Rajapaksa’s twisted version of events go unanswered. If we do so, we encourage other states to believe that they too can get away with the “Sri Lanka option” – using brutal methods to crush internal opposition, without regard for civilian casualties or international law. It has been reported that leaders from Colombia to Thailand have been following Rajapaksa’s “success” with great interest.

Those brave Sri Lankan journalists who continue to seek out and report the truth despite the high risk of “disappearance”, torture and assassination, surely deserve the support of their international colleagues. Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s murder has rightly been denounced around the world. Wickrematunge, who chillingly foretold his own death in an editorial published posthumously, should be no less well known. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom organisation, rates freedom of expression in Sri Lanka as lower than in Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan, yet somehow the world – including the mainstream media world – does not seem to notice.

Surely it is time for that to change.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/jul/12/sri-lanka-journalists-threatened

Safe Passage for Tissainayagam Just One Step Toward Free Media in Sri Lanka

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is relieved that J.S. Tissainayagam is safe, following more than two years of an ordeal in which the Sri Lankan Tamil journalist was accused, charged and tried for terrorism for his journalistic reporting on human rights issues.

Tissainayagam has now left Sri Lanka, joining the growing ranks of Sri Lanka’s senior independent journalists who have felt compelled to seek safety abroad.

The IFJ acknowledges the support of its affiliates worldwide as well as international and local press freedom organisations who have sustained a long campaign to secure justice and freedom for Tissainayagam since he was detained in March 2008.

However, the IFJ remains concerned that the efforts of Sri Lankan authorities to restrict independent and critical journalism continue to sustain a climate of self-censorship and fear among local media personnel and outlets.

“Tissainayagam was wrongfully detained in the first place, simply because of his independent and critical writing on human rights issues in Sri Lanka. He should never have been charged under counter-terrorism laws, and he should never have been sent to trial,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

“It is a great relief for Tissainayagam, his family, colleagues, and the press freedom community worldwide that Tissainayagam is now safely free, after being sentenced last year to 20 years’ jail.

“But we will remain focused on countering mechanisms in Sri Lanka that can be used to imprison journalists on the basis of their professional work, and we will campaign for justice against those who commit violence against journalists.”

Tissainayagam was initially detained, alongside his colleagues N. Jasikaran and V. Valamarthy, while working as the director of the now defunct www.outreachsl.com website.

He was held for more than five months before being charged in August 2008 under counter-terrorism and emergency laws, accused of attempting to cause racial or communal disharmony in his articles on human rights issues published in the North-Eastern Monthly in 2006 and 2007.

He was convicted on August 31 last year to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment. 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.

While imprisoned in the notoriously anti-Tamil Magazine Prison, Tissainayagam was denied access to adequate medical treatment and was forced to witness the torture of Jasikaran.

Jasikaran and Valamarthy were released in October after related charges against them were dropped due to lack of evidence. They now live abroad.

Tissainayagam was granted bail in January this year, pending an appeal. At the time, concerns were still held for his safety while in Sri Lanka.

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, Sri Lanka’s Minister for External Affairs, G.L. Peiris, told a press conference that President Mahinda Rajapaksa would pardon Tissainayagam. However, details and any conditions for a pardon have not been stated publicly.

The IFJ’s long-running “Release Tissa” campaign included sending lawyers from the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to attend his trial as independent observers to monitor the application of judicial process.

In September 2009, the ICJ issued a statement condemning Sri Lanka’s use of counter-terrorism laws, saying the trial of Tissainayagam fitted a pattern of government “attacks and threats of attacks against journalists and critics of Government policy, including public accusations by persons associated with the Government that equate such critics with terrorists and traitors, for example, in commentaries posted on an official website of the Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order.”

An unconditional pardon for Tissainayagam has been a key step demanded by the IFJ as an indicator of the Sri Lankan Government’s commitment to press freedom after years of restrictions and violence targeting media personnel.

Other steps that the Government must take, as well as further details on Tissainayagam’s case, are outlined in Key Challenges for the Media After War’s End, an IFJ report of a press freedom mission to Sri Lanka, published in December. The report is available at http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-mission-identifies-key-challenges-for-sri-lanka-s-media-after-war-s-end.

On January 24, shortly after the report’s release and two days before Sri Lanka’s presidential elections, Lanke-e-News commentator Prageeth Eknaligoda disappeared. Eknaligoda’s whereabouts remain unknown and grave concerns are held for his welfare. The Government of Sri Lanka must direct authorities to conduct a full and proper investigation, which has not yet been conducted.

“The IFJ hopes that Tissainayagam’s freedom and safe passage will be followed quickly by reinstatement of the rights of all journalists in Sri Lanka, including their right to conduct independent journalism without fear of violent retribution, and the right to report critically and impartially on all matters of concern to the people of Sri Lanka,” White said.

The IFJ calls on Sri Lanka’s Government to take swift action to end the campaign of antagonism against Sri Lanka’s media, to protect and uphold the civil, political and human rights of all journalists and, in doing so, to allow all Sri Lanka media personnel to work independently without fear of retribution and to enable exiled journalists to return safely to their homeland.

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

Tissainayagam Pardon Still Not Finalised

South Asia Media Solidarity Network and the IFJ continue to monitor the progress of the Sri Lankan Government’s promised full and unconditional presidential pardon for journalist J.S. Tissainayagam.

SAMSN members and the IFJ eagerly awaited Tissainayagam’s release after a May 3 press conference in which Sri Lanka’s Minister for External Affairs, G.L. Peiris, reported that President Mahinda Rajapaksa would pardon the journalist. Tissainayagam was sentenced last year to 20 years’ jail on charges of alleged terrorism-related activities. On May 11, Attorney-General Mohan Peiris said the pardon would be granted swiftly on the condition that Tissainayagam’s appeal against his conviction and sentence was simultaneously withdrawn.

See: http://asiapacific.ifj.org/en/articles/ifj-urges-speedy-processing-of-tissainayagams-pardon

Lawyers file papers to withdraw Tissa’s appeal

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

By Susitha R. Fernando

An application has been filed for the withdrawal of an appeal filed by Senior Journalist J. S. Tissainayagam to process the Presidential pardon granted to him on the World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

Lawyers for Tissainayagam said the motion was filed in the Court of Appeal to withdraw the appeal filed against the conviction and 20 years rigorous imprisonment imposed on the journalist by the Colombo High Court.

Following sentence, Tissainayagam had filed an appeal against the High Court order and was later bailed on an application for bail.

However on May 3, External Affairs Minister Minister G. L. Peiries announced that Tissainayagam would get a presidential pardon.

When inquired about the process of the Presidential pardon, Attorney General Mohan Peiris said that appeal has to be withdrawn to carry out the pardon.

“The formal work on the process of pardon can be done once the appeal is withdrawn,” AG Mohan Peiris told the Daily Mirror.

He also said the process could be done immediately once the appeal is withdrawn. The AG also had earlier said that the pardon would be effected simultaneous to the withdrawal of the appeal.

Meanwhile the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) last week in a statement urged the government to speed up processing of a full and unconditional presidential pardon for Senior journalist J.S. Tissainayagam.

“Sri Lanka’s President and Attorney-General must provide a clear and transparent timeline when Tissainayagam’s unconditional pardon and full restoration of rights would be enacted,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White had stated. The IFJ had also called on the international community and press freedom advocates to maintain their commitment and attention to Tissainayagam’s case to ensure a full pardon and restoration of Tissainayagam’s rights.

J. S. Tissainayagam who was sentenced to twenty years rigorous imprisonment was granted bail on January 11 following an application filed by him. On August 2009 Tissainayagam was convicted under three charges of conspiracy and violating the Prevention of Terrorism Act and emergency regulations. Tissainayagam was arrested in 2008 by the Terrorist Investigation Division and charged with inciting violence in articles for his magazine.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/news/front-page-news/11528.html

IFJ Urges Speedy Processing of Tissainayagam’s Pardon

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges Sri Lanka’s Government to speed up its processing of a full and unconditional presidential pardon for senior Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam.

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, who was sentenced last year to 20 years’ jail on accusations of terrorism-related activities.

On May 11, Attorney-General Mohan Peiris said that the pardon would be granted swiftly on the condition that Tissainayagam’s appeal against his conviction and sentence was simultaneously withdrawn, according to the local Daily Mirror. The Mirror also reported that the Attorney-General was to process the pardon during the week ending Friday, May 14.

However, two weeks after the announcement of a pardon, the details and any conditions remain unknown. There has been no official confirmation of when all necessary judicial procedures will be enacted to formally issue the pardon and fully restore Tissainayagam’s rights.

“Sri Lanka’s President and Attorney-General must provide a clear and transparent timeline for when Tissainayagam’s unconditional pardon and full restoration of rights will be enacted,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

Tissainayagam was initially detained in March 2008. He was held for more than five months until being charged in August 2008 under counter-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 counter-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 appeal. While no longer held in the notoriously dangerous Magazine prison, there are continuing concerns for his safety.

The IFJ calls on the international community and press freedom advocates to maintain their commitment and attention to Tissainayagam’s case to ensure that Sri Lanka’s Government lives up to the promise of a full pardon and restoration of Tissainayagam’s rights.

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 125 countries worldwide

A fortnight gone, Tissa not yet pardoned

Monday, 17 May 2010 01:50

By Susitha R. Fernando

Two weeks had gone but formalizing the Presidential Pardon granted to senior journalist J. S. Tissainayagam is yet to be finalized. Jailed journalist J. S. Tissainayagam who is on bail is still awaiting the completion of the legal procedure to obtain the President’s pardon issued on him officially.

The Attorney General Mohan Peiris last week said that the procedure with regard to the Presidential pardon on jailed journalist would be finalized during the course of the week. The Attorney General had also said that the pardon would be effected simultaneous with the withdrawal of appeal filed by Tissainayagam before the Court of Appeal.

The AG also assured that it would not be necessary for journalist Tissaiinayagam  to go back to prison even though the appeal from which he was bailed, is withdrawn.

“We would workout a way to effect the pardon simultaneous to withdrawal,” AG Peiris had said.  When contacted yesterday a senior officer from the Attorney General’s Department said that a meeting had been held with the attorneys of journalist Tissainayagam and pardon would be effected in “a couple of days” from the withdrawal of the appeal from Court of Appeal.

“Once the Appeal is withdrawn necessary formalities will be done to officially handover the pardon,” spokesman who wants to remain anonymous told the Daily Mirror. Exactly two weeks ago, on May 3, External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiries announced that J. S. Tissainayagam would be freed on a Presidential Pardon.

Minister Peiries made this announcement on the World Press Freedom Day at a press conference where a large number of foreign and local media were gathered.

Subsequently the news that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had decided to pardon journalist Tissaiinayagam was given much publicity both locally an internationally.

Tissaiinayagam who was sentenced to twenty years rigorous imprisonment was granted bail on January 11 following an application filed by him. In August 2009 Tissaiinayagam was convicted under three charges of conspiracy and violating the Prevention of Terrorism Act and emergency regulations. Tissainayagam was arrested in 2008 and charged with inciting violence in articles for his magazine.  While media rights organizations rallied on behalf of Tissainayagam throughout his arrest and detention, eight media organization including Editors’ Guild on last September wrote to the President urging that Tissainayagam be given a pardon.   Last September, Tissainayagam was given an award for courageous and ethical journalism by the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and he was also named the first recipient of the Peter Mackler Award.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/news/front-page-news/10715.html