(RSF/IFEX) – Army spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe produced evidence at a press conference in Colombo on 6 February 2007 implicating three journalists and trade union activists in planning terrorist acts. Nihal Serasinghe, Lalith Seneviratne and Sisira Priyankara were also accused of collusion with the Tamil Tigers and one officer said they had already carried out attacks […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Army spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe produced evidence at a press conference in Colombo on 6 February 2007 implicating three journalists and trade union activists in planning terrorist acts. Nihal Serasinghe, Lalith Seneviratne and Sisira Priyankara were also accused of collusion with the Tamil Tigers and one officer said they had already carried out attacks that had not resulted in casualties.
Journalists were shown videotape of the three activists confessing their “crimes”. Each of them in turn appeared on a clip lasting more than seven minutes in which they described planned terror attacks. All three, who appeared visibly under heavy pressure, also explained their military training with the Tamil Tigers. The army spokesman told the press that the “traitors” were being held by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the interests of the investigation.
“Confessions recorded in an unknown place by unknown people after arrests that look more like kidnapping have no legal validity,” said Reporters Without Borders. “Police must immediately bring the three journalists before a judge so their testimony can be heard in normal conditions. If the three men are genuinely implicated in the planning of terrorist attacks, they should be tried under the law. If they have been forced to confess under threat, they should immediately be released,” the organisation added.
Reporters Without Borders also pointed out that Munusamy Parameshawary, 23, a journalist with the Sinhalese weekly “Mawbima”, has been held under the anti-terror law for more than 60 days (see IFEX alerts of 24 January 2007 and 1 December 2006). The anti-terror division has said, without producing any evidence that she was in contact with a member of the LTTE on a suicide mission in the capital. She wrote regular articles about the Tamil community in the capital and also about unexplained disappearances.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 6 and 5 February 2007**
