{"id":7689,"date":"2012-07-03T09:30:54","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T13:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=7689"},"modified":"2012-07-03T19:31:30","modified_gmt":"2012-07-03T23:31:30","slug":"sri-lankan-govt-must-immediately-end-harassment-of-media-and-journalists-human-rights-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=7689","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan Govt must Immediately end harassment of media and Journalists – Human Rights Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

(New York, July 3, 2012) \u2013 T<\/strong>he Sri Lankan government should immediately end harassment of media outlets and journalists in violation of the right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today.<\/p>\n

In the three years since the end of the armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s government has expanded its efforts to silence critical views.
\n
\nOn June 29, 2012, the Criminal Investigation Department, acting on a court order, raided the offices of the Sri Lanka Mirror, a news website, and Sri Lanka X News, a website of the opposition United National Party. The authorities confiscated computers and documents, and arrested nine people on the grounds that the websites were \u201cpropagating false and unethical news on Sri Lanka.\u201d They were charged under article 120 of the Penal Code, which imposes up to two years in prison for those who \u201cexcite or attempt to excite feelings of disaffection to the president or to the government.\u201d The day after their arrest the nine were released on bail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government raids did not just target two media outlets but were part of a broader effort to intimidate and harass all critical journalists,\u201d said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cSri Lanka\u2019s poor reputation on free speech will only sink lower unless these assaults on the media stop immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harassment of media outlets has taken various forms, Human Rights Watch said. On June 26, a Tamil-language website, Tamilwin, was temporarily blocked by two internet service providers in the country. Tamilwin had reported on opposition-led protests in northern Sri Lanka against alleged land grabs by the military.<\/p>\n

In November 2011 the government blocked five websites, including the Sri Lanka Mirror, and introduced a requirement that all websites dealing with Sri Lankan affairs must register or face legal action. The restrictions were not provided for by law nor were they strictly necessary for a legitimate state purpose, as required under international law, Human Rights Watch said. Blocking the websites, as well as the arrests under article 120 of the Sri Lanka penal code, appear to violate Sri Lanka\u2019s obligations under article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.<\/p>\n

In May the Supreme Court refused to allow to proceed a fundamental rights case brought by human rights activists against the government\u2019s blocking of the websites. The ruling, which upheld the government\u2019s action in the absence of a specific law permitting it, validates the government\u2019s anti-media policies and paves the way for a further clampdown on free speech, Human Rights Watch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of \u2018shooting the messenger\u2019 by harassing the websites that are critical of government policies, the government should focus on addressing the problems raised,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThe government only seems interested in preventing these issues from being exposed or discussed.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the three-decade-long war between the government and the LTTE, journalists were frequently the targets of attack by both sides. Three years since the conflict ended, in May 2009, the government continues to intimidate and threaten journalists and news organizations that express dissenting views. Senior government officials have called such critics \u201ctraitors,\u201d a serious charge in a country where many journalists have been killed.<\/p>\n

The government has failed to bring to justice those responsible for any of the killings or enforced disappearances of journalists in recent years. For example, the investigation into the January 2009 killing of Lasantha Wickremetunga, the outspoken editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper, has produced no arrests.<\/p>\n

There has also been no progress in the January 2010 \u201cdisappearance\u201d of the journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Eknalogoda of Lanka eNews. In November 2011 Mohan Peiris, a former attorney general, told the United Nations Committee against Torture in Geneva that Eknalogoda was alive and living outside the country. But in June, when called to testify before the magistrate\u2019s court about Eknalogoda\u2019s whereabouts, he said he did not know them and could not recall where he got the previous information. <\/p>\n

The government\u2019s campaign of harassment and intimidation of the media, plus the failure to investigate seriously abuses against journalists, has led to widespread self-censorship and caused many journalists to flee the country. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 23 journalists have been forced into exile since 2007 and only three have returned.<\/p>\n

After the June 29 raids, governments raised serious concerns about violations of the right to free expression in Sri Lanka. The US embassy in Colombo called for an end to the harassment of journalists and said in a statement: \u201cWe have raised on several occasions our deep concern over efforts to suppress independent news media, including the blocking of news websites, intimidation, and disappearances of journalists.\u201d A statement from the European Union said that, \u201cAny action intended to intimidate independent journalism and or limit freedom of expression is in contradiction to UN human rights standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sri Lankan government has done nothing in response to the media concerns raised by other countries except to dismiss them,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThis sadly mirrors the response to rights issues more generally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(New York, July 3, 2012) \u2013 The Sri Lankan government should immediately end harassment of media outlets and journalists in violation of the right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today. In the three years since the end of the armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan Govt must Immediately end harassment of media and Journalists – Human Rights Watch’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7690,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7689\/revisions\/7690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}