Prageeth Eknelygoda

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CPJ joins call for accountability in attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka

The Committee to Protect Journalists joins the Center for Justice and Accountability in calling on the United Nations Human Rights Council to take action against impunity in attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka. In a report released today, the Center for Justice and Accountability, with support from CPJ, outlined the Sri Lankan government’s systematic and…

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People protest Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa outside his office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on February 11, 2020, demanding investigations into disappearances during the civil war. Journalists are wary of the Rajapaksa brothers' return to power. (AP/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lankan journalists turn to self-censorship under Rajapaksas as hope for justice fades

Nadesapillai Vithyatharan is a rare survivor, one of the few journalists abducted during Sri Lanka’s civil war who lives to tell the story.

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Heroines for Press Freedom

Late on the evening of September 16, 2000, 31-year-old Ukrainian investigative journalist Georgy Gongadze left a colleague’s house in Kiev and headed home to where his wife and young daughters awaited him. He never made it.

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CPJ welcomes arrests in 2010 disappearance of Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Eknelygoda

New York, August 24, 2015–At least four Sri Lankan army officers were arrested on Monday and accused of involvement in the January 2010 disappearance of Prageeth Eknelygoda, a political cartoonist and columnist, according to news reports. Another army officer and two civilians were arrested earlier this month, reports said. The arrests come following a pledge…

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CPJ calls on Sri Lanka to improve press freedom

Dear President Sirisena, As your government’s post-election 100-day agenda nears completion the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international press freedom organization, recognizes your early endeavors in keeping promises to ensure media freedom. CPJ would like to request a meeting with you and your government to discuss the problems that persist for the country’s media.

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Sri Lankan president should ensure improved climate for press freedom

Dear President Sirisena: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international press freedom organization, is writing to congratulate you on your recent victory in Sri Lanka’s presidential election. As Sri Lanka readies itself for a new chapter in its history, we urge your government to take concrete and meaningful steps to improve the climate for press freedom.

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Newspapers announce the election victory of Maithripala Sirisena, who has pledged to improve conditions for the press in Sri Lanka. (AFP/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi)

How Sri Lanka’s new president can ease decade of repressive press measures

The stunning defeat of Sri Lanka’s incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa by challenger Maithripala Sirisena on Friday has given way to questions about what changes, if any, will come for press freedom in a country that had grown deeply repressive under the previous leadership.

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UN rights chief should push Sri Lanka on press freedom

When the human rights watchdog for the United Nations visits Sri Lanka this weekend she should forcefully address the government’s problematic record on press freedom.

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Sri Lanka tries new ways to crush independent media

In Sri Lanka, where there has seldom been good news for the media in recent years, things have taken a further turn for the worse, as well as a turn for the bizarre. With President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government secure in its 2010 electoral mandate, its leaders have made fresh moves to tighten their control of…

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Attacks on the Press: Missing

Police never bothered to look for cartoonist Prageeth Eknelygoda. It’s not unusual. By María Salazar-Ferro

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