(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Sri Lankan security forces’ improper use of the anti-terror law to arrest people working for the media. Dushantha Basnayake, financial director of Standard Newspapers Private Limited (SNPL), which publishes the Sinhalese-language weekly “Mawbima”, was arrested in the capital, Colombo, on 26 February 2007. Officers of the Terrorist […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Sri Lankan security forces’ improper use of the anti-terror law to arrest people working for the media. Dushantha Basnayake, financial director of Standard Newspapers Private Limited (SNPL), which publishes the Sinhalese-language weekly “Mawbima”, was arrested in the capital, Colombo, on 26 February 2007.
Officers of the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) went to Basnayake’s office at around 6 p.m. (local time) and began questioning him. After four hours of interrogation, the officers apparently received a call from a high ranking Defence Ministry official ordering them to put him under arrest.
Dushantha Basnayake, aged 40 and the father of two children, is Sinhalese. The weekly “Mawbima” has a reputation for criticising the government and for condemning human rights abuses and corruption in Sri Lanka. It is the second time that the government has acted against the weekly. A young Tamil journalist with the paper, Munusamy Parameshawary, has been held by the TID under the anti-terror law since November 2006 (see IFEX alerts of 24 January 2007 and 1 December 2006).
Despite threats and repeated visits from tax inspectors, the newspaper has not changed its editorial line.
“The anti-terrorism laws are designed for the arrest of terrorists, not journalists or opposition figures,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “The arrest of Dushantha Basnayake, who is close to a political adversary of President Mahinda Rajapakse, looks above all like retaliation.”
“The fears of human rights organisations have unfortunately turned out to be well-founded: the anti-terror law is being misused to silence critics. We call on the Sri Lankan government to release Dushantha Basnayake”, RSF concluded.
On 24 February 2007, President Rajapakse and his brother Gotabaya Rajapakse, the minister of defence, urged TV channels to broadcast a programme in which they accused “Mawbima”, as well as its owner Tiran Alles, of being a spokesman for the Tamil Tigers. The head of state and his entourage have also accused former ministers Sripathi Sooyaaracchi and Mangala Samaraweera, linked with Tiran Alles, of using the newspaper to plot against him. The two former ministers were recently sacked from the government for having spoken out against human rights violations.
