Sri Lanka

A number of journalists participating in the closing ceremony of a journalism training workshop in Colombo on 15 October 2014 received threatening text messages warning them not to attend.

Two journalists were assaulted when supporters of the ruling parties and the opposition clashed in Uva province, Sri Lanka. In a separate incident, another journalist was targeted in Jaffna by a group of people who claimed to be members of the security forces.

There is serious concern over the death threats issued to Sunil Jayasekara, the convener of Free Media Movement, an IFEX member organisation. The IFJ also questions the role of government agencies in sabotaging a media workshop in Colombo.

Sunil Jayasekara, journalist and convener of IFEX member Free Media Movement (FMM), has received death threats. Join the Twitter campaign now to support him!

Media groups condemn the decision of the Sri Lankan government to ban civil society NGOs from having any dealings with the media, including organising and conducting legitimate and necessary media-training activities.

The Sri Lankan authorities asked the local media not to cover the clashes between Buddhists and Moslems that erupted in the southern region of Aluthgama on the night of 15 June 2014. A curfew was also imposed in an attempt to contain a situation described by the government as “tense.”

the IFJ joined Sri Lankan affiliate the Free Media Movement (FMM) in expressing concerns over recent incidents where security forces have openly obstructed the freedom of Sri Lanka’s media.

A military operation targeting “Uthayan” appeared to be a response to the Tamil-language daily’s publication of a supplement consisting of poems and accounts by survivors of the Sri Lankan army’s massacre of thousands of Tamil civilians in 2009, in the final stages of the civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

The Sri Lankan government’s decision to label 16 overseas Tamil organizations as financers of terrorism is so broad that it appears aimed at restricting peaceful activism by the country’s Tamil minority.

The UN Human Rights Council should ensure Sri Lanka’s compliance with fundamental rights said IPI in an open letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and members of the council.

The IFJ is relieved to report that the respected human rights activists Ruki Fernando and Father Praveen were released by Sri Lankan authorities a few days after being detained.

The arbitrary arrest and detention of two prominent Sri Lankan human rights defenders, Ruki Fernando and Father Praveen Mahesan, is an attempt to silence criticism and divert the spotlight from ongoing abuses, leading global and Asian human rights monitors said today in a joint statement.

24 January 2014 marked the four-year anniversary of the disappearance of Sri Lankan journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is calling on the Sri Lankan Government (GSL) to properly investigate Ekneligoda’s case and prosecute all those guilty of attacking journalists and news gatherers since the Rajapaksa regime came to power. […]

Indian journalist and filmmaker Tamil Prabhakaran was arrested by Sri Lankan security forces and is undergoing an investigation by the Terrorist Investigation Department on charges of violating visa regulations and taking pictures of a military installation.

On the eve of a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, CPJ highlights its concern about the perilous climate of press freedom in the country.

The International Federation of Journalists believes the detention of two Asia-Pacific Directors is an attempt to intimidate and harass journalists inside and outside Sri Lanka to prevent reporting on the realities of life in the country in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.