Sri Lanka

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, Pradeep Dharmaratne, a correspondent for the newspaper “Dinamina”, was taken to hospital with back injuries after a harsh police interrogation. On 16 February 1998, police officers broke down the door of Dharmaratne’s home and beat him violently before taking him to the police station. The journalist spent the next day […]

(FMM/IFEX) – On 18 February 1998, FMM, together with Prajathanthra – The Foundation for Freedom of Expression, carried out a protest in Colombo’s busy Lipton Circus, demanding an immediate investigation into the recent threats made to journalist Iqbal Aththas, the defense correspondent for “The Sunday Times.” The protest, made up of over 300 journalists and […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 12 February 1998, the home of Iqbal Athas, one of Sri Lanka’s leading military reporters who is widely known for his column “Situation Report” in the Colombo “Sunday Times”, was raided. At approximately 21:00, as Athas was watching television with his wife and seven-year-old daughter on the second floor of his Colombo […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned over what appears to be a government-sponsored offensive directed against Iqbal Athas, one of Sri Lanka’s leading military reporters, widely known for his column Situation Report in the “Sunday Times” of Colombo. In late November, several state-run media outlets gave extensive coverage to the […]

(FMM/IFEX) – According to Prajathanthra – Foundation for Freedom of Expression, in two recent instances journalists have been harassed and threatened, in open violation of freedom of the press and the right to free expression. On 29 November 1997, three journalists of the Tamil language newspaper “Virakesari” were harassed, threatened, and humiliated and their photographic […]

(FMM/IFEX) – According to “Prajathanthra” (the Foundation for Freedom of Expression – Sri Lanka), Niresh Eliathamby, a journalist attached to the Associated Press bureau in Colombo, was held at gunpoint for more than two hours by security services personnel while he was carrying out his duties as a journalist on 15 October 1997, the day […]

(FMM/IFEX) – According to “Prajathanthra” (the Foundation for Media Freedom in a Democracy), Sri Lankan journalist D.B.S. Jeyaraj, who now lives in Canada, is being subjected to death threats and other warnings by members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are carrying on a war of separation in Sri Lanka. Jeyaraj, who […]

Sanjeewa Niroshana, a photojournalist for the “Lankadipa” newspaper, was assaulted by employees of the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, where he had gone to cover the trial of a prominent Buddhist monk. A statement by the Court Registrar which was issued following the incident made it clear that employees of the Court had been directly involved. […]

On 9 April 1996, the Sri Lankan government temporarily withdrew the news broadcasting licence issued to two private radio stations following the broadcast of an incorrect news report by one of the stations. “Sirasa-FM”, the Sinhala-language station of the Colombo-based Maharaja Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Network, announced in one of its news bulletins that the government […]

The government of Sri Lanka appears to be introducing restrictions on reporting on the question of the so-called “ethnic problem” in their country. The Minister of Information reportedly announced a few weeks ago that press censorship may have to be introduced if newspapers publish material that is “ethnically oriented.” The International Federation of Newspaper Publishers […]

Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor of the “Sunday Leader”, and his wife Raine, features editor at the same newspaper, were attacked near their home in a Colombo suburb by four masked men on 6 February. The assailants stopped the journalists’ car, pulled them out and beat them with clubs. Mr. Wickrematunga was hospitalised with cuts and bruises, […]