Tamil Justice

The Canadian Press – 100 Sri Lankan journalists protest government for alleged moves to suppress media workers

Sri Lankan journalists who claim the government has stepped up its suppression of the media in recent weeks staged a protest Monday and demanded the release of a detained editor from a pro-opposition newspaper.

Colombo Page – * Sri Lankan journalists protest against media suppression

Nidhasana News – Sri Lankan Journalists Protests Government for Suppression

Hundreds of journalist protested today (08) in Colombo against suppression of government.

The agitation was organized to protest against detention of Chief Editor of “Lanka” newspapers Chandana Sirimalwatta without any charges and abducting “LankaeNews” journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.

“If Mahinda Rajapaksa won the presidential election genuinely, why does he afraid of media?” protesters asked. The media would stop writing against the government only when a good governance san fraud and corruption is established in the country states, protesters said further.

Meanwhile New-York based Human Rights Watch said since the election authorities have detained and questioned several journalists and blocked news Web sites. At least one reporter has been assaulted and several have been threatened.

Human Rights Watch (29/01) – Sri Lanka: End Harassment, Attacks on Journalists

The Sri Lankan government should immediately end its post-election harassment of media outlets and ensure protection of journalists from attack, Human Rights Watch said today.

SMH – Sri Lanka ‘expels Swiss reporter’

Swiss Info – Swiss journalist told to leave Sri Lank

The Straits Times – Sri Lanka expels Swiss reporter

SRI Lankan authorities have withdrawn the visa granted to a Swiss reporter covering the island’s fiercely fought presidential vote and asked her to leave the country within 48 hours.

Sify – Anti-government newspaper shuttered in Sri Lanka

Times of India – Police seal office of ‘Lanka‘ newspaper

SMH – A democracy in doubt

by Matt Wade

Whoever wins next week’s election, the military will have the upper hand, Matt Wade writes from Colombo.

A helicopter overhead announced that the President had arrived. A packed stadium at Homagama, in south-western Sri Lanka, erupted as Mahinda Rajapaksa did a fly-past before landing.

Dressed in his trademark white tunic, sarong and red scarf, he was soon on the dais, ready to open the sports ground – named, of course, after himself.

With presidential elections next week, the inauguration of the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Sports Complex on Thursday was a tailor-made campaign event. More

SMH – Sri Lankan poll my be decided by Tamil vote

by Matt Wade

THE chopper overhead announced that the President had arrived. A packed stadium at Homagama in south-western Sri Lanka erupted as the country’s supremo, Mahinda Rajapaksa, did a flypast before landing.

Dressed in his trademark white tunic, sarong and red scarf, he was soon on the dais ready to open the new sports ground – named after himself.

With presidential elections next Tuesday, Thursday’s inauguration of the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Sports Complex was a tailor-made campaign event. More

SMH – Sri Lankan general woos Tamils in election challenge to President

by Matt Wade

Two months ago, Sarath Fonseka commanded one of the world’s most experienced armies. Now he is giving the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, a run for the top civilian post.

General Fonseka, 59, the former chief of the army, seems to have made this rapid transformation from military leader to presidential candidate with ease. His popularity among the urban middle class was on show at a political rally in Colombo on Wednesday night.

Two large portraits of the general flanked the stage: in one he was dressed in full uniform, in the other he wore a traditional white tunic buttoned to the neck. More

Asian Times – The gloves are off in Sri Lanka’s election

by Sudha Ramachandran

With Sri Lankans going to the polls on January 26 to elect their next president, there is considerable apprehension that polling will be neither free nor fair. The run-up to polling day has been violent, with five people killed in poll-related violence and scores injured.

The election monitoring group, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections, has recorded 382 confirmed instances of violation of election laws between November 17, when candidates filed nominations, and January 20.

Supporters of the ruling party and the opposition are “aggressively moving towards a violent election”, a spokesperson of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections told the BBC. “The remainder of the election campaign and the presidential election itself will not be conducted according to the legal procedures and limitations established by the constitution and the law,” the Colombo-based Center for Policy Analysis has warned. More

The Economist (21/01) – Between a rock and a hard man

Both candidates are ignoring what should be their priority: national reconciliation

THE presidential election in Sri Lanka on January 26th should have been a cakewalk for the incumbent. Last May, when his government defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, bringing an end to a bloody 26-year insurgency, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s popularity among the island’s Sinhalese majority knew no bounds. As for the Tamil minority, thwarted of the independent homeland for which the Tigers had been fighting, it was, at just 12% of the 21m population, too small to sway an election. Yet, as an ugly and at times violent election season nears its end, the outcome is now on a knife-edge. Despite the advantages of incumbency—such as fawning state-controlled media—the main challenger, Sarath Fonseka, might yet sneak home. Whoever wins, the prospects for a decent settlement for the Tamils, most of whom shunned the Tigers but nurture legitimate grievances, seem remote. More

The Economist (21/01) - Next year in Jaffna

Tamil émigrés follow the election campaign with jaundiced eyes

IN THE dingy back office of a Sri Lankan grocery shop in Harrow, north-west London, sales assistants pore over a Tamil newspaper, while a customer says he is going home to follow events on the internet. Having watched from afar as the Sri Lankan army crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009, British Tamils are again transfixed by a campaign on the island—this time for an election. On January 26th the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, will seek to capitalise on his military victory at a presidential poll called nearly two years earlier than it need have been.

The news, however, has been mostly grim for the 1m or so members of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. Most supported the rebels and the independent state for which they battled. As the Tigers were defeated, thousands of Tamils were killed. Now, the choice is between two candidates: Mr Rajapaksa, who launched the final bloody phase of the war; and Sarath Fonseka, who led the army that waged it.

For Tamils that constitutes a dispiriting contest. Both candidates are Sinhalese nationalists; neither seems likely to hurry towards the national reconciliation they have promised. But with the Sinhalese vote apparently closely split between Mr Rajapaksa and Mr Fonseka, Tamils, who constitute only 12% of the population, may have the deciding say. In Sri Lanka the Tamil National Alliance, once seen as a proxy for the Tigers, has announced its backing for Mr Fonseka, as the only way to thwart Mr Rajapaksa. Many Tamil émigrés say they grudgingly support that decision. Without votes, however, they can do little to sway the outcome. More

Associated Press (21/01) – Media Group sees bias in Sri Lanka poll coverage

A media rights group has accused Sri Lanka’s president of using government resources for his election campaign.

Reporters Without Borders said Thursday the main challenger to President Mahinda Rajapaksa is getting almost no air time in state media. It also said the telecoms regulator ordered mobile phone operators to issue a text message on behalf of the president.

Rajapaksa’s main challenger in the Jan. 26 election is former army chief Sarath Fonseka.

Both men are at the height of their popularity for ending the 25-year civil war last May against the Tamil Tigers. They are locked in a bitter and close election race.

A spokesman for Rajapaksa said the group’s statement went beyond its mandate and was not worth responding to.

BBC (21/01) – Shattered Tamil city braces for crucial poll

by Charles Haviland

The fishing boats seem to chase each other out in the lagoon. A flock of seabirds rises, glorious against the blue sky.

Calm has returned to Jaffna’s waters after decades of turbulence.

It is still a tense peace. The bay where they repair their boats is cordoned off, guarded by the military. Parts of the shore are lined with razor-wire.

But as the vessels crowd into the wharf by the fish market, there is a real buzz in the air.

The men weigh their crabs and cuttlefish, hack the big meaty fish into steaks, bargaining, bartering.

A young fisherman tells the BBC he is delighted with peace in the north. Restrictions have been lifted, he says: they can sail to more places; export their fish abroad; find more markets at home, too.

And he is enthusiastic about the 26 January election.

The two main candidates, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the former army chief (and former northern commander), General Sarath Fonseka, are both widely viewed as hardline advocates for the island’s Sinhalese ethnic majority – people instrumental in vanquishing many Tamils’ desire for an autonomous homeland. More

MyNews – Sri Lanka: Democracy and truth were casualties of war

by Ameen Izzadeen

Sri Lanka-based senior journalist Ameen Izzadeen reports on Sri Lanka’s presidential battle, slated for January 26, in which the incumbent faces off a popular war hero.

In November 2009, when Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa officially declared his intention to seek a fresh mandate for another six-year term, he was getting ready for a one-horse race. A month and a half later, he is getting ready to fight his toughest political battle, which is being described as a neck-to-neck affair, after former army chief General Sarath Fonseka joined the presidential race.

Soon after the military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May last year, jubilant supporters predicted that Rajapaksa would remain the president of the island country for life. Some even called him Maha Rajanani (the great king). In fact, State-run television channels and radio stations regularly played a song that hailed him as the great king who united the country. The song was hurriedly filmed by his cronies weeks before the final victory. Rajapaksa basked in the glory of the victory and did not care to tell those who tried to make him a king that it was unconstitutional. More

Channel 4 World News Blog (08/01)- Will Sri Lanka cooperate with the UN’s experts

Jonathan Miller

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister is beginning to sound like a stuck record. Rohitha Bogollam continues to insist – as his government has done for four months – that the exection video is fake. The story, he still maintains, is “concocted”, the source “unreliable”, the footage “doctored” and the whole thing part of a “sinister” plot to besmirch Sri Lanka’s reputation.

The trouble is, his “unequivocal rejection” of the video’s authenticity now flies in the face of a growing body of independent expert opinion. The latest technical analyses, part of a UN inquiry, comprises reports from a forensic video analyst, a forensic pathologist and a firearms and ballistics expert.

In stark contrast to the findings of Sri Lankan experts, who in September claimed to have “scientifically established beyond doubt that this video is fake”, the experts commssioned by Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur, believe the footage to be genuine. More

Times Online UK (08/01) – The battle for evidence of ‘war without witnesses’

by Catherine Philp

Accusations of fakery and political bias have been Sri Lanka’s stock in trade in the face of allegations of serious war crimes.

When The Times reported the estimated civilian death toll of 20,000, based on unofficial United Nations figures, the Government responded by claiming that not one non-combatant had perished. When The Times published aerial photographs that had been analysed by defence experts depicting how civilians were caught in government shelling, Colombo dismissed those images too as fakes.

The photographs were taken by a Times reporter and other journalists on Sri Lankan military helicopters flying the UN Secretary-General across the battle zone.

Sri Lanka’s campaign to wage a “war without witnesses” has meant that much of what has emerged about what happened has come from photographs, video and documents, as well as testimony from those trapped there. More

The Canadian Press - Sri Lankan journalists demand justice for slain editor; no arrests a year after his killing

By Bharatha Mallawarachi

Sri Lankan journalists Tuesday demanded justice for a renowned newspaper editor gunned down by attackers on motorcycles, complaining no arrests have been made in the case a year after his killing.

Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper, was shot dead in his car by assailants on Jan. 8, 2009. The paper had been critical of the government’s conduct in the war against the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels and reported on alleged human rights violations and government corruption.

Rights group Amnesty International has said at least 14 Sri Lankan journalists and media workers have been killed since the beginning of 2006, but none of these cases has been solved. Many have fled the country because of death threats. Some have been assaulted and others arrested. More

AP – AP writer leaves Sri Lanka after visa not renewed

The Associated Press bureau chief in Sri Lanka, who broke news of private U.N. reports outlining civilian death tolls, has been denied permission to remain in the country.

The AP’s Ravi Nessman left Sri Lanka on Monday after the government declined to renew his journalist’s visa.

The government denied that the decision was related to his reporting on the final throes of Sri Lanka’s quarter-century civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels. The AP reported extensively on the heavy toll the war took on civilians as government forces surged across the rebels’ strongholds in the jungles of the north this year.

“We find this failure to renew Ravi’s visa disturbing,” said John Daniszewski, AP’s senior managing editor for international news.

Aside from reports on civilian casualties, Nessman revealed first word of a government document from January outlining a plan to keep hundreds of thousands of displaced people in camps for up to three years.

Nessman received a one-year journalist visa upon arriving in Sri Lanka in July 2007, and it was renewed the following year. The government declined to renew it for a third year.

Lucien Rajakarunanayake, director of international media in the office of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, insisted the government had not ousted Nessman. He said it was standard for foreign journalists to be based in Colombo for two years.

Nessman’s predecessor as AP bureau chief, Dilip Ganguly, was based in Colombo for a decade, from 1997-2007.

Both sides of Sri Lanka’s civil war have been accused by media groups of attempting to manipulate coverage.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 11 Sri Lankan reporters were forced to flee the country in the past year, and Amnesty International said at least 14 Sri Lankan journalists and media workers have been killed since the beginning of 2006.

CPJ – AP bureau chief ordered out of Sri Lanka

Daily Mirror – AP Chief denied visa extension

International Press Institute – Sri Lanka Continues to Harrass and Intimidate Foreign, Domestic Media, Following End of Civil War

Reporters without Borders – Associated Press correspondent penalised for his war coverage

CPJ - In Sri Lanka, censorship and a smear campaign

The Sri Lankan government is continuing its offensive against the independent news media, blocking domestic access to a news Web site and smearing lawyers who are representing a leading newspaper.

“The government is continuing to silence its critics through harassment and threats. Authorities should end their anti-media policies, and they can start by restoring access to independent news Web sites and halting attacks on their critics,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asiaprogram coordinator. The government launched aggressive efforts to curb independent media in 2006–at the same time it began an all-out military effort to defeat the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). On May 19, the government formally declared an end to the 25-year civil war.

Domestic access to the independent Web site Lanka News Web was shut down over the weekend, according to several sources. The site, which is still accessible outside of Sri Lanka, posted a statement today saying that government had directed domestic Internet service providers to block access to the site, which is hosted outside the country. The statement said that site managers had received no formal explanation but suspected the shutdown stemmed from a story on Saturday saying that the president’s son had been the target of stone throwers at a refugee camp.

The same day, 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 theSunday 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 carries pictures of three of the lawyers, making them identifiable to government supporters who might accost them. The ministry’s Web site has criticized several individuals in the past who have gone on to be targeted with threats. The paper’s parent organization, Leader Publications, has been in court defending itself against contempt charges stemming from critical coverage of Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa. The lawyers had recently replaced the original defense attorneys, who had resigned because they said they did not support criticism of Rajapaksa, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother.

Lasantha Wickramatunga, editor-in-chief of the Sunday Leader, was killed on January 8 by motorcycle-riding assassins. The death was among three violent anti-press episodes in January, which CPJ documented in a special report, “Failure to Investigate.” As the government’s military victory drew closer, attacks against journalists continued.

CPJ counts at least 11 journalists who have fled the country in the past year in fear of their lives.

http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/reactivaction-of-discredited-press-council-law-a-step-backward-for-sri-lanka

Click here to read statement

Committee to Protect Journalists – With press council, Sri Lanka revives a repressive tool

Article from 2006 – Committee to Protect Journalists – Sri Lanka: CPJ concerned by move to reinstate state-controlled Press Council

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/24/press-freedom-sri-lanka

Guardian – Fears for press freedom in Sri Lanka

Crouching Tiger by Anita Pratap
LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is many things to many people-national leader, freedom fighter, revolutionary, guerrilla, killer, saviour, tyrant, visionary and terrorist. Lionised or demonised, depending on their standpoint. I cannot know what is going on in Prabhakaran’s head, but I am certain he is neither frightened nor desperate. He is not afraid of death. He has been courting it since he was 17. He is an indefatigable warrior, one who is philosophically detached from all things tactical. Yet, paradoxically, in achieving his strategic goal of Tamil Eelam, he displays an unwavering attachment.
Read more here.

The Sri Lankan immigration officer’s eyes narrowed as she swiped my passport at the international airport in Colombo last week. “Come this way,” she said, leading me into a side room, where a colleague typed my details into a computer.

A message flashed up on his screen: “DO NOT ALLOW TO ENTER THE COUNTRY.” With that, my passport was confiscated, I was escorted to a detention room, locked up for the night, and deported the next day. I can’t say that I was surprised, though it was my first deportation in 12 years of reporting from China, the former Soviet Union and South Asia.

Click here for article