(FMM/IFEX) – The following is an FMM press release: Press release 23 05.2001 Today at around 1.30 p.m. a smoke bomb was thrown at the Ravaya newspaper office which is situated at Piliyandala road, Maharagame. Ravaya is an independent and critical newspaper in Sri Lanka. FMM condemns this bomb attack as an act of intimidation […]
(FMM/IFEX) – The following is an FMM press release:
Press release
23 05.2001
Today at around 1.30 p.m. a smoke bomb was thrown at the Ravaya newspaper office which is situated at Piliyandala road, Maharagame. Ravaya is an independent and critical newspaper in Sri Lanka. FMM condemns this bomb attack as an act of intimidation against independent journalists and media in Sri Lanka. Although this is an expression of cowardness on the part of forces against media freedom, at the same time it sends dangerous signals to the media community in this country. In recent times Ravaya newspaper has been very critical of the government and played an important role in the impending impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of the supreme court of Sri Lanka. On the other hand during the last few years the government has been very much on an offensive against the mass media, which are independent of government control. In this context, FMM considers the bomb attack on Ravaya as a continuation of the anti-media intimidation campaign which has been going on for some time now in Sri Lanka. Therefore FMM urges especially the media community and in general democratic civil and political forces of this country to condemn this cowardly act and to stand for the Ravaya newspaper’s right to hold their own views and ideas, independent of the ruling party. At the same time we demand that the government initiate an impartial and speedy inquiry into this incident.
Sunanda Deshapriya
For FMM
