DECEMBER 27, 2007 Posted January 14, 2008 T. M. G. Chandrasekara, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation ATTACKED Chandrasekara, news director of the state-run Rupavahini television station, became the center of a dispute when Sri Lankan Labor Minister Mervin Silva and a group of followers entered the station’s Colombo newsroom on December 27 to complain about its…
DECEMBER 24, 2007 Posted January 14, 2008 Capucine Henry, Constantin Simon, France 24 DETAINED Henry and Simon, reporter and cameraman for the news channel France 24, were detained by soldiers on December 24 after filming an army checkpoint, and released two days later, according to international news reports. The journalists were traveling with a Tamil…
New York, November 21, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned an arson attack on a publishing house in Sri Lanka today that destroyed the printing press of three newspapers critical of the government. At least 12 unidentified masked men stripped publishing staff of their cell phones at gunpoint before starting the blaze and fleeing the…
New York, October 31, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by an attack on Sri Lankan online editor Kumudu Champika Jayawardana, who was shot as he was driving home from work in a Colombo suburb shortly before midnight Wednesday. Sri Lankan media reports said Jayawardana, editor of the news Web site Ethalaya, was admitted…
New York, October 25, 2007—Sri Lankan authorities should immediately release Sunday Leader reporter Arthur Wamanan Sornalingam, who was detained in Colombo on Wednesday in connection with a story critical of a government minister, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Sornalingam and his mother, with whom he lives, were picked up by Criminal Investigation Division…
Dear President Rajapaksa: The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by your government’s unwarranted attacks in various media on Iqbal Athas, associate editor and defense correspondent for The Sunday Times. Officials representing your government have effectively equated Athas’ critical journalism with terrorism, a wholly inappropriate position.
Dear President Rajapaksa, As your government prepares to withdraw from its 2002 cease-fire agreement with Tamil separatists, the Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by reports that members of your government have tried to intimidate journalists in the Sri Lankan media in recent weeks. In at least two instances, an official used the word “traitor” against a journalist, which is decidedly inflammatory in a country that has seen civil war rage since 1983.
New York, August 31, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists remains concerned about the safety of Sri Lankan journalist Iqbal Athas, who has come under threat after writing an August 12 article about alleged government misconduct in the procurement of MiG-27 fighter jets from Ukraine. Athas said that he has been harassed and followed by unknown…
Dear President Rajapaksa: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by grave threats made against the veteran journalist Iqbal Athas. He has come under extraordinary pressure following his investigations into irregularities surrounding a 2006 deal to purchase MiG-27 fighter jets from Ukraine.