IFJ Joins Sri Lanka International Mission Statement

 
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), as part of the third visit of the International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka between October 25 and 29, has joined a statement expressing concern at the deterioration in the situation since the last visit in June 2007.

Among the most serious developments that the mission encountered was the use of terrorism legislation, for the first time in the democratic world, to punish journalists purely for what they have written. J.S. Tissainayagam, B. Jasiharan and V. Vallarmathy have been detained since March 2008 and in the case of the first-named, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was invoked well after the period of 3 months stipulated for bringing charges.

Tissainayagam was a well-regarded columnist for the Sunday Times and the editor and publisher of the North-Eastern Herald, a monthly magazine that has in recent years carried some trenchant commentaries on the Sri Lankan government’s offensive against the Tamil separatist insurgency in the country. Jasiharan, who is charged under the PTA for the crimes of inciting racial animosity and aiding and abetting terrorism, is the printer of the magazine, and Vallarmathy is his fiancée.

The mission has placed on record its concern at the dangerous precedent the prosecution of Tissainayagam, Jasiharan and Vallarmathy sets for all media nationally and internationally.

In recent months, the mission found, journalists and media institutions seeking to report independently on the ongoing conflict have been attacked and intimidated in a seeming effort to limit public knowledge about the conduct of the war. They have also been explicitly pressured on multiple occasions, to reveal their sources. This, the mission has held, is a gross violation of the public right to know and the accepted norm that media sources should be protected.
 
Media in the North and East of the country continue to suffer from the worst forms of insecurity. Days before the mission visit, the office of Tamil Alai, a weekly newspaper published from the eastern provincial town of Batticaloa by the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puli (TMVP) – the party that controls the provincial government — became the site of an armed confrontation between rival factions. As tension rose within the newspaper premises, the local police intervened to award control to one of the TMVP factions.

The mission was told lives of journalists in the eastern province of Sri Lanka, are constantly threatened by all parties to the conflict in an effort to curtail independent reporting. Aside from the security forces, which function with complete impunity, the main Tamil insurgent organisation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), remains active. With the rival factions of the TMVP also locked in bitter confrontation, the threats that journalists face are four-fold in their origin.

The mission condemned the murder of P. Devakumar, a journalist with the Sirasa TV channel, in Jaffna in May 2008.

Quite apart from the threats to the life and liberty of media personnel, the mission found in evidence a legislative effort to curb media independence. Media rules gazetted on October 10 by the Sri Lankan Government provide for a number of contingencies under which broadcasting licences could be cancelled, including seven different grounds related to broadcast content.

Broadcast channels will now have to apply annually for licence renewal.

A popular broadcast channel has since been put on notice that it is to submit transcripts of news broadcasts “to be carried” every week as of October 28. The majority of the media community in Sri Lanka has read this as a transparent attempt to impose prior restraint on the content of news and current affairs programming. Concurring with this reading, the mission condemned the effort to impose censorship under another name.

The mission placed on record its dismay at the repeated instances of elected representatives and high officials of the Government using violence and inflammatory language against media workers and institutions. The mission found that state-owned media, including the website of the Ministry of Defence, have contributed to the vilification of independent media. Such actions were quite transparently, aimed at discrediting independent media. They contributed to a climate of intolerance and hostility towards media institutions perceived to be independent, posing a clear and present danger to the lives and safety of journalists.

The IFJ and the mission team applaud the solidarity and resolve shown by the five organisations of journalists in Sri Lanka – the Free Media Movement, Sri Lankan Working Journalists’ Association, Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Unions, Sri Lankan Tamil Media Alliance and Sri Lankan Muslim Media Forum – in a tough and challenging situation.

Moreover, the mission expressed its sense of appreciation for the solidarity displayed by media owners and editors in seeking to bring the perpetrators of recent attacks to justice.

The mission process is coordinated by International Media Safety, Copenhagen, Denmark and it includes 12 international professional organisations. The first visit to Sri Lanka of the mission, occurred in October 2006, followed by a second visit in June 2007. The delegation for last visit comprised the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Media Support (IMS), International News Safety Institute (INSI), International Press Institute (IPI), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The IFJ has been part of all three visits.

Members of the last mission delegation met with the President of Sri Lanka, Government Ministers, political parties, media owners and editors, journalists and media workers, human rights and legal experts, and the international community.

Further details on the mission process in Sri Lanka can be found at the website of International Media Support: http://www.i-m-s.dk.

On the new Private Television Broadcasting Station Regulations

 

30th October 2008

The Minister of Mass Media and Information has on 10th October 2008 promulgated a new set of regulations cited as the Private Television Broadcasting Station Regulations, under powers conferred by the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Act, No.6 of 1982. These new regulations seek to regulate all aspects of private television broadcasting, including classification of stations and services; issue, revocation, and duration of licenses; fee structure; territorial coverage; ownership; duties and responsibilities of private television broadcasters; extended powers of the Ministry; and content controls. 

The Free Media Movement (FMM) strongly believes that the new regulations give cause for serious alarm on a number of points. Our preliminary concerns are as follows:

•    Classification of Private Television Broadcasting Stations: The regulations seek to classify private television broadcasters on the basis of geographical coverage (as international, country-wide or regional stations), on the basis of technology used (as analogue or digital), on the basis of whether a station uses its own or others’ broadcast transmission infrastructure, and on the basis of the method used to access the viewer (as terrestrial, cable, satellite, internet, or mobile telephony based broadcasting station). While classification per se is not inherently problematic for purposes of necessary legal regulation, it is not clear how particularly the head of classification referred to as ‘method used to access the viewer’ would work in practice. For example, it is not clear how the requirement of a license for a broadcaster using the internet or mobile telephony as the method of accessing the viewer would be applied and enforced in practice, given that potentially any person with access to the internet and a mobile camera phone could be regarded as a ‘broadcaster’. In such circumstances, at the very least, the scheme of licensing envisaged by the regulations are impractical and unworkable (whether the legal responsibility under licence lies with a ‘citizen-broadcaster’ or internet service provider. More seriously, however, such a system seriously hampers the freedom of expression using readily accessible modern technology, and which departs from developing forms and methods of expression all over the world.

 

•   Citizenship Requirements: The new regulations provide that an application to the Minister for a licence to operate a private television station may only be made by a Sri Lankan citizen, a partnership in which all the partners are Sri Lankan citizens, a company in which the majority shareholding is held by Sri Lankan citizens, or a statutory body. In the modern context of the globalised economy and trans-national technology, we find this to be an unusual requirement.

 

•  The Ineligibility of Political Parties to obtain a Private Television Broadcasting License: The new regulations prohibit a recognised political party from applying for a license. While in itself this may seem a legitimate restriction, in the Sri Lankan context in which state-owned media institutions operate in practice, not as public service broadcasters, but as politically partisan mouthpieces for the political party in power, we are firmly of the view that this restriction on private broadcasting licensing would serve only to aggravate that anomaly. Moreover, the new regulations require that where a license-holder becomes a member of a political party during the pendency of a license, s/he shall be obliged to surrender the license. This is wholly disproportionate, in that a mere member of a political party is precluded from holding a license.

 

•     Duration of License: The regulations provide that a private television license will only be for the duration of one year. This is inconsistent with the international average of a television broadcasting license, which is generally seven years.

 

•    Cancellation of License: The regulations provide that, among other reasons, a license may be cancelled by the Minister if the licensee broadcasts programmes which are detrimental to the interests of a national security; incite breakdown of public order; incite ethnic, religious or cultural hatred; in violation of any law; morally offensive or indecent; detrimental to the rights and privileges of children; in violation of the code of ethics, standards and practices of television broadcasting. This is an extremely alarming provision which in our view is entirely inconsistent with modern international standards governing the freedom of expression and broadcasting balanced against legitimate competing interests. It gives the Minister an overbroad power of undefined scope to regulate content and opens up the possibility of capricious decisions to cancel licenses and impose punishment.

 

•     Consultative Committee on Television Broadcasting: While such a body is envisaged by the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation Act for the purpose of advising in the administration of that corporation, we strongly believe that such a body – appointed by the Minister and lacking operational independence and legitimacy – is not an appropriate mechanism for taking decisions with regard to such serious matters as the cancellation of licences.

 

•  The Role of the Minister: In general we find that the role of the Minister within the scheme of intrusive regulation envisaged by the new regulations to be extremely worrisome. Not only is it required that all kinds of organisational information to be supplied to the Ministry by private television broadcasters such as information regarding equipment and organisational structure, but the Minister’s prior approval and permission is required for many matters of day to day operations that would seriously hinder the freedom and autonomy of the media. While almost all aspects of the Minister’s powers under the regulations cause serious concern from the perspective of media freedom and independence, we would in particular mention the provisions which empower the Minister to demand information and interfere in the functioning of private television stations at will, and further the provision which empowers officials to enter premises for purposes of inspection. Moreover, the Minister is empowered to suspend the operation of a station if in his opinion such a suspension is required in the interest of the public interest or national security. Such broad powers are invariably prone to abuse.

 

The abovementioned aspects are only illustrative examples of the many concerns FMM has in relation to the new regime set out in the regulations. However, they are sufficient to show the extent to which the new regulations can be used or abused for illegitimate and political purposes other than reasonable regulation. In our view, these new regulations are misconceived in the way they allow governmental intrusion into the freedom of expression, and media freedom and independence. They are also, in our view, entirely inconsistent with the Constitution and fundamental rights in the manner interpreted by the Supreme Court in its landmark determination in the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Authority Bill Case of 1996.

 

FMM requests the Ministry of Mass Media and Information to withdraw these obnoxious regulations forthwith, and if the aim is to establish a legitimate regime of fair, transparent and accountable regulation, to enter into open consultations with those directly affected, the media profession and broader civil society, so that a proper legal framework in this regard may be developed. Given the recent experience of the government’s contempt and disregard for the freedom of expression and the integrity of the free media, however, FMM reserves the right to explore and initiate any legal action that may be available under the Constitution and law of Sri Lanka to ensure that these regulations are struck down.

Human rights matter – and they particularly matter for journalists.

Jacqueline ParkAsia-Pacific Director
International Federation of Journalists

They matter to our societies and, as journalists, they give us objective criteria we can use to assess how our governments are performing and standards to measure those who hold power in society.

They matter to us in our day to day work. Human rights are essentially the air that we breathe, they frame the environment that allows us to keep our communities informed.

That’s why the International Federation of Journalists is so pleased to have been working with the Sri Lankan journalists community in this Human Rights Prize Summit.

The IFJ is the global union for journalists. It represents 600,000 journalists organised in 130 independent unions in 122 countries, including here in Sri Lanka.

It is the global voice for the rights of the media, and for those of us who work in it.

So, it gives me great pleasure to represent the IFJ on this important occasion as we recognise the courage and great journalism of our colleagues.

Journalists have a duty to examine and reveal the state of their societies. An important test of a well functioning society is the status of human rights – are they upheld or are they violated?

Do all members of the society enjoy their rights equally – children, young people, women and men, different ethnic groups?

The significance of rights in public service journalism is threefold.

• First, good journalism is focused on the rights of citizens as a matter of course, whether in a subtle or an overt way.
• Second, good journalism relies on the right to freedom of thought and expression. This cannot exist where human rights are abused.
• Third, journalists have a right to be protected – to be safe from violence or other abuse –  in carrying out their work.

And unfortunately we have seen too much harassment, aggression and murder of journalists simply for doing there job here in Sri Lanka.

This is a special war – a war on journalism.

We have seen it in the targeted killing of Tamil media workers – no fewer than 14 media workers have been killed in the past two and a half years. This has had the chilling effect of closing down any independent reporting from the North. The LTTE has never allowed independent reporting from areas they have controlled. Unfortunately we are seeing the same now in Government controlled areas.

For the first time we see the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act used against journalists purely because of their journalism. Tissanayagaram remains in jail for his journalism.

This is not a problem, for Sri Lankan or for Sri Lankan journalism. Tissa’s is the crisis for world journalism.

In the past decade’s so-called war on terror, this is the first time that a journalist has been charged with terrorism offences purely because of something he has written.

This is a shocking, shocking development and it should be a source of deep shame to the government of Sri Lanka.

The International media community is united in its concern for Tissa and stand with our Sri Lankan colleagues in a global campaign for  his release. 

We see human rights under threat from hate speech from those intolerant of independent critical reporting — endangering the lives of journalists to the horror of our colleagues around the world.

Defence correspondents have been particularly targeted –  beaten, threatened and forced to flee the country — shutting down critical coverage of the conduct of the war.

As the media freedom representative to the OSCE Miklos Haraszti said recently: “There is only one thing more intimidating for free speech than harassment, physical attacks, and murder of media workers; and that is when governments tolerate harassment, attacks, and murders.”

When people know they can attack, abuse and kill journalists without risk,  the crimes are  encouraged and perpetuated.

Where there is apathy and inaction, law enforcement come to seem to share the motives of the perpetrators.

This impunity does not start with the failure to successfully investigate and prosecute murders of journalists.

It starts with hateful attacks against journalists by those in power and the criminalisation of the work of journalists

All this sends a message that it’s open season on journalists.

In all this, Sri Lanka risks being seen as a rogue player. Around the democratic world, governments around the world are recognising that they need to act on their responsibility to protect journalists, a recognition embodied in a recent UN Security Council resolution

These attacks corrode our media and our democracy:

• Beating a journalist not only punished the journalist for their work. It sends a clear message to their colleagues, editors, owners, and to all their families and this has a chilling effect on media freedom and open discussion.

• Violence becomes censorship far beyond the context of the actual controversy; it will impede the press in performing its most important task in defence of democracy, because it is journalists covering human rights abuses and corruption scandals that are most punished with violence.

• The effect of the violence extends to the whole society by collapsing editors’ willpower. Editors are the ones in any democracy that practically define which issues are to be reported and discussed.

• Finally, violence against journalists joins even the forces that commercialise the media. It adds the element of physical fear to the effects that today are pushing the media away from meaningful information, towards empty entertainment.

Despite the deterioration, there are some positive signs. We welcome the Governments moves to put this situation visibly high on the national agenda with the creation of the cabinet subcommittee to look into journalists safety.

The emerging dialogue between the President and government and journalists is another positive step in rebuilding trust and understanding for independent journalism.

Genuine determination and broad support from the government is essential to protect journalists. Government must acknowledge the links between governmental respect for media and the level of societal violence against the media.

Tonight we are here to recognize that despite these difficult circumstances, journalists are fighting back. 

I’m proud to acknowledge tonight the many brave journalists that are not with us — the journalists shot, beaten, jailed, forced to flee — all for doing their job:

I’m also proud to acknowledge the brave media community, led by the five organisations, that continues to stand in solidarity and in the face of many threats for their right to freedom of expression and the public’s right to know.

 

We still have a long way to go in implementing and entrenching the principles of public service journalism across all media in Sri Lanka.

Change is happening and we can be proud of what we achieving and setting in place for future generations of journalists.

Without the solidarity achieved and strengthened in these past few years these times could be much darker.

Tonight we recognize those achievements with the Public Service Journalism prize and the IFJ Human Rights prize.

This year has seen 750 entries and a record number of women shortlisted for the awards. For this the national and provincial journalists organizations must be congratulated. And to the editors that have shown great support for the awards, thank you.

Higher quality of reportage is a concrete outcome of greater professionalism.

That is, more and more we can see the principles of public service journalism in practice, strengthening our profession and strengthening our communities.

Tonight’s awards are a part of that process. They reward the dedication and work of provincial journalists and recognise the real-world value and impacts that high-quality reporting can and does have on the lives of ordinary people.

(Presentation to Human Rights Prize Summit
Colombo, 24 October 2008)

Independent media in Jaffna threatened by armed cadre of EPDP

  

29 October 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Free Media Movement (FMM) is extremely disturbed to receive a letter from the Managing Director, Mr. E. Saravanapavan of the Uthayan daily newspaper printed and published from Jaffna, noting that paramilitary groups in the embattled city were preventing the distribution of the paper and posed a grave risk to the safety and security of newspaper staff.

 Armed cadre of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), a group that is part of the incumbent government and led by Mr. Douglas Devananda, who is a Cabinet Minister, disrupted the distribution of the paper on 23rd October 2008 and prevented newspaper staff from leaving their homes to report to work. 

 Mr. Saravanapavan notes in his missive that that Mr. Devananda allegedly told him the Army was ‘very angry’ with Uthayan, for reasons that are not given but not hard to guess. As the International Press Institute (IPI) in an open letter to the President of Sri Lanka on this matter notes, “As one of the very few sources of information for the inhabitants of Jaffna, Uthayan is of vital importance, particularly because it carries news about the security situation in the province. In times of conflict and other dangerous situations, the importance of access to timely and accurate information and news is undeniable.”

 Uthayan has operated in the embattled peninsula under extremely challenging circumstances. It’s staff live in fear of death and some are virtual prisoners in the offices of the newspaper. In January, Mr. Saravanapavan received death threats over the phone. As the RSF notes in their 2008 Annual Report, “A gunman on a motorbike killed a young reporter, Selvarajah Rajivarnam, who was riding his bike near the office of Jaffna’s biggest selling daily Uthayan at the end of April. He covered criminal cases, going into police stations and the hospital to obtain information about murders and disappearances. Several sources in Jaffna said members of the EPDP could be behind the killing.”

 The FMM regards the disruption of Uthayan’s distribution and the overt pressure on staff to refrain from working as attacks against the freedom of expression and the worst kind of strong-arm tactic, tellingly by a constituent party of the incumbent government, to stifle independent media.

 We call for the President’s urgent attention into this matter, and hold Mr. Devananda directly accountable for any action taken by the EPDP against Uthayan and its staff. Only strong condemnation of brutish measures to curtail the freedom of expression can assure a skeptical public of the bona fides of this regime to strengthen media freedom in Sri Lanka.

New curbs on private TV channels

(lankadissent.org – Monday, 27 October 2008 18:30 )
 
Minister of Mass Media and Information Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, in gazette extraordinary no: 1570/35 dated October 10th, has introduced new curbs on private television channels.
“Private Television Broadcasting Station Regulations of 2007″ says “a license issued shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of its issue and may thereafter be renewed for a further period of one year each, upon application for a renewal of the license being made by the licensee.”

It says a license may be cancelled on the grounds of change in ownership of the television broadcasting station in respect of which the license was issued and all other Associated movable, immovable and intellectual assets, which includes a change in the shareholding if the licensee is a company, without the prior approval of the Minister; broadcasting programs which are:

(i) detrimental to the interests of national security; (ii) inciting breakdown of public order; (iii) inciting ethnic, religious or cultural hatred; (iv) in violation of any laws of the country; (v) morally offensive or indecent; (vi) detrimental to the rights and privileges of children; (vii) in violation of the code of ethics, standards and practices of television broadcasting.

A recognized political party shall not be eligible to obtain a license for the establishment or maintenance of a private television broadcasting station or a network, it says.

Where any person to whom a license is issued thereafter becomes a member of a recognized political party during the period of the validity of the license, he shall be required to immediately surrender the license, the gazette extraordinary says.

A person who applies for a license shall submit the audited annual accounts to the Ministry, it says.

Also, the Minister shall have the right to suspend the permission granted to a licensee to operate any channel for a specified period, in the interest of the public or in the interest of national security, in order to prevent the misuse of such channel, the gazette extraordinary says.

In the event of such a suspension, the licensee shall immediately comply with the directive issued by the Minister in this regard, it says.

IPI concerned over interference with newspaper’s distribution

 

SOURCE: International Press Institute (IPI), Vienna

(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a 23 October 2008 IPI letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa:

H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa
President of Sri Lanka
‘Temple Trees’
Colombo 3
Sri Lanka

Vienna, 23 October 2008

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, is deeply concerned about the recent interference with the distribution of the daily newspaper Uthayan in Sri Lanka’s Jaffna province, and the harassment of its journalists.

According to information before IPI, on the morning of 23 October, members of paramilitary groups linked to the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) interfered with the delivery of the newspaper. In addition, Uthayan employees, including its editorial staff, were reportedly prevented by EPDP cadres and government forces from leaving their homes. Continued interference will prevent the publication of at least two issues of the newspaper, causing both financial losses for the newspaper and hampering Jaffna citizens’ ability to receive information.

Uthayan is one of only three newspapers published in Jaffna, and is also the one with the largest circulation. It has been subjected to great pressure in recent years. At least three of its journalists have been killed and many of its journalists stopped coming to work out of fear of being attacked in connection with their articles, which largely cover the ongoing conflict and the humanitarian crisis it has caused.

As one of the very few sources of information for the inhabitants of Jaffna, Uthayan is of vital importance, particularly because it carries news about the security situation in the province. In times of conflict and other dangerous situations, the importance of access to timely and accurate information and news is undeniable.

IPI therefore urges Your Excellency to do everything in your power to ensure that the distribution of the Uthayan newspaper quickly resumes, and that its staff is immediately permitted to return to work.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

David Dadge
Director

Open death threats against human rights activists and lawyers in Sri Lanka

 

 

22 October 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Free Media Movement (FMM) is deeply disturbed by the contents of a letter posted to leading Human Rights defenders and lawyers, as well as given to all Court Registrars to be handed over to lawyers who appear for human rights cases.

 

The letter, in Sinhala, from a group that calls itself the ‘Mahason Balakaya’ (Mahason Regiment) clearly states that lawyers who defend human rights cases will be summarily killed or receive life-threatening injuries.

It is unclear who this group is. Mahasona is a well-known demon figure in Sinhala folklore. The FMM also learns that the Sri Lanka Army’s LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol or “Digu Dura Wihidum Balakaya” in Sinhalese) were better known in the military “Mahasohon Brigade”.

 

Speculation over origins of the letter, however, is secondary to our grave concern that in the present context this letter may instigate more violence against human rights defenders and those who appear in the defence of those such as journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who stands accused of terrorism. This disturbing letter comes just weeks after a deadly grenade attack against renown lawyer and human rights activist J.S. Weliamuna, who is also the head of Transparency International in Sri Lanka.

 

Reflecting the growing idiom of hate and harm against human rights activists even by senior members of the government, the letter calls human rights defenders ‘traitors’ who deserve to be killed. It ends by noting that,

“To those who support the terrorists, remember those who were killed and lost their limbs and eyes to the terrorists! Know that in the name of the nation, to make you suffer in the same manner is a blessing.”

 

The letter also notes that “Henceforth, for every traitor who stands up to defend a terrorist, know that we will not hesitate to hasten fate which is the same as that faced by the innocent victims of terrorist in our motherland today.”

 

This hate speech, openly distributed with impunity, is hugely disturbing in a context of wanton violence in Sri Lanka against those who champion human rights, question the government’s conduct of war and independent media.

 

The FMM urgently calls upon the Inspector General of Police to launch an investigation into the origins of this reprehensible letter.  The Government must immediately denounce these terror tactics and take meaningful steps to restore public confidence in the rule of law, human rights and democratic governance in Sri Lanka.

Terror, in whatever form, has no place whatsoever in the democratic process.

Government Intelligence creating environment to hunt journalists

 

FMM expresses  its serious concern on the news item which appeared in state controlled daily Dinamina on 18th October, titled “Information about ten journalists who work for Tigers exposed”. The news story had the by line of one Wijayani Edirisingha.  This story was given wide publicity by state controlled electronic media as well.

 According to the news item National Intelligence Division has uncovered information on 10 journalists who disseminate news and photographs internationally giving distorted interpretations on the humanitarian operations the government is conducting in good faith to liberate Tamil people from the clutches of terrorism. 

FMM strongly believes that journalists and photographers have a right to report the war independently and disseminate information locally and internationally. The Media does not have to stick to the interpretations of the government nor of the rebels on any issue. Meda is duty bound to report facts accurately and cover all sides in a fair and balanced manner. At times it may hurt the government and at times it may hurt the rebels. Yet, these rights are  inviolable. 

This attempt through a Dinamina journalist, the FMM firmly believes is an attempt to create an environment to hunt down more journalists. It intends to create hate and suspicion on journalists who wish to report independently on the war. This spiteful news report was backed by several hate mails against journalists and media organizations.

One such news story which appeared on 23rd June 2008 said the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) had sent 8 Tigers to Norway. But, none of those journalists or media organisations has been charged for any related offences so far, which proves these stories are planted by intelligence agencies through State controlled media to first discredit and then to hunt down independent journalists and the media. The attempted abduction and beating up of journalist Namal Perera, Manager Advocacy, SLPI by goons in a white van, is clear proof.

These planted news stories also provide the State an excuse to arrest journalists for “further investigations” as they say, and journalists would end up like Tissanayagam, whose release is still being deliberated in Courts.

FMM hopes HE the President who projects a very close relationship with the media would immediately censure these cooked up stories in his own State controlld media and instruct his own media authorities to refrain from such low practice against journalists

Violence against media in the Eastern Province seriously undermines democracy

 

 

22 October 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Recent violence directed against and involving media personnel in the Eastern Province ridicule the Sri Lankan Government’s claims of the restoration of democracy and the rule of law in the region.

 

In August, a TMVP (Karuna faction) supporter/member threatened journalist Thakshila Jayasena from Sandeshaya – the BBC Sinhala Service – when covering a protest campaign by the United National Party, Sri Lanka’s main opposition party.

 

In September, journalist Radhika Devakumar, a provincial correspondent of the Thinakaran newspaper, a Tamil daily, survived an assassination attempt in her home during which she received three gunshot wounds. Radhika served as the media coordinator for Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan for a short period.

Last week, tension prevailed in Batticaloa as armed cadre of Karuna and Pillayan factions violently clashed over the ownership of the Thamil Alai newspaper. As noted by the BBC,

“It initially belonged to Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan (Karuna) but the ownership was taken over by group led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillayan) after Karuna left Sri Lanka, police said. Armed members of the Karuna faction have taken over the newspaper office in Govindan road, Battticaloa.”

Thamil Alai is published using equipment stolen from the offices of the Thinakkathir in August 2002, at a time when Karuna was the top leader of the LTTE in the region. As we noted in a press release on 8 August 2002 that was also sent to LTTE, the Thinakkathir office was “vandalised and office equipment (computers, printers, TV, radios, UPS’s etc) worth Rs. 1.2 million stolen during the attack.”

 

A history of violence in general, and against media in particular, by both Karuna and Pilliyan continues unchecked to date, first under the protection of the LTTE and now under the protection of the Government. Both regimes are opposed to the freedom of expression and media freedom. It is unlikely that the transition from one to the other will result in stronger independent media in the region.

 

The inability and unwillingness of armed Karuna and Pilliyan factions to resolve disputes non-violently and abide by the rule of law showcases the fragility of democratic governance in the region. This raises serious concerns for the safety and security of independent journalists in the region.

A region that has for decades suffered the brunt of the LTTE’s violent suppression of dissent does not need two armed factions violently pursuing their parochial ends. Journalists, caught in cross-fire and actively targeted, will continue to suffer the brunt of this lip-service to democracy, at a time when the Government is also unwilling and unable to check unprecedented levels of violence against independence media.

 

The FMM unequivocally condemns all forms of violence against media by armed groups. We urgently call upon all armed factions in the Eastern Province to give up violence and work towards the restoration of democratic governance, a strong, critical media and the rule of law.

A death squad formation against human rights lawyers needs to be investigated urgently

 

Yesterday an announcement was received by registrars of all courts and a number of human rights lawyers by a group that calls itself the Mahason Balakaya (Mahason Battalion). The notice threatens death or other serious physical harm to any lawyers who appear for any suspected terrorist in any court in Sri Lanka. The lawyers who appear for such persons are referred to as traitors, who should be treated in the same way that the terrorists treat their enemies. In the present context the vast majority of those who are charged under anti-terrorism laws are Tamils.

We give below a full translation of the notice from the “Mahason Battalion” referred to above.

To those who represent the terrorists today

The innocent people of our motherland have been subject to the killing sprees of terrorists for over three decades. Expectant mothers and farmers have been among those killed – chopped to pieces – by the terrorists. These terrorists now engage in bombings intended to kill innocent civilians in various parts of the country, in a bid to escape defeat at the hands of the valiant forces.

To date, the number of innocent that have fallen victim to these terrorist bombings extend into their thousands. Thousands more have been maimed. But there is no one today to speak for the human rights of these innocent people.

However, we know that there are many traitors who voice their concerns for the human rights of the evil terrorists and those who assist them in carrying out these indiscriminate killings.

Can such people who strive to free these terrorists when they’re captured and imprisoned for their crimes against the innocent be considered anything but traitors? We have the names and addresses of these traitors who take home salaries numbering into hundreds of thousands and even accept bribes in exchange for acting as enemies of our beloved motherland and its innocent people.

We have decided that all those who try to split our motherland in two and all those who represent the interests of and speak on behalf of the terrorists who kill our innocent civilians will be meted out the punishments that they deserve. There is still room for those who sell out on the cause of the nation, of the motherland, for financial gain, to cease such treacherous acts. In the future, all those who represent the interests of the terrorists will be subject to the same fate that these terrorists mete out to our innocent people.
Traitors to the nation, mouthpieces of the terrorists,

Remember the faces and bodies of those innocents who have been killed and maimed by the terrorists. Be warned that meting out the same fate to you in the name of our motherland would be a favour that we would render to the entire nation.

The Mahason Force that represents the interests of those who have lost their lives and those who have been maimed at the hands of terror.

(The Sinhala word ‘Maha sona ‘ means ‘big graveyard and the word ‘Mahason’ means ‘the ghost that brings death’. The popular myth is that anyone will die when Mahason strikes).

This notice comes at a time when there are several well-known cases where suspects have challenged the charges filed against under anti-terrorism and emergency laws as being baseless. At the same time many cases also come before the Supreme Court by way of fundamental rights applications regarding the forced deportation of persons from Colombo and other Sinhala areas and arbitrary forms of registration imposed on Tamils arriving from conflict regions to safer areas. The Supreme Court has made several interventions in order to protect the rights of these persons.

Under these circumstances the notice of death threats announced against lawyers who appear in these cases could come from sources which are linked to the agencies that investigate into alleged offences under anti-terrorism laws and other arbitrary acts that are undertaken for the purported purpose of keeping terrorists away from other areas. As all these activities come under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence it will be this ministry that will must come under the greatest suspicion about such notices.

This announcement may also be seen as a direct threat to the Supreme Court itself since the Supreme Court in recent months has given many judgements against the government, among which are matters relating to the protection of minorities. If the lawyers can be intimidated from taking cases to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court would not have the occasion to intervene into arbitrary forms of deprivation of rights under the pretext of national security by agencies of the state.

Sri Lanka in the past has seen many formations of death squads which act under various names. There were many such squads in the period from 1986 – 1990 when there were counterinsurgency activities against the predominantly Sinhala JVP. One such group named the Black Cats left a tremendously chilling impression in the minds of people. During this period the number of disappearances has been estimated officially to be around 30,000. It is now well established that these death squads functioned under the country’s security forces and police during that period.

The re-emergence of such death squads is a frightening reminder of the extreme loss of the rule of law in the country. Such death squads in the late 1980s were used against all political opponents of the regime as the reports of the Commissions on Enforced Disappearances clearly demonstrates.

It may not be a coincidence that there was a grenade attack on the house of a well-known human rights and anti graft lawyer, J.C. Weliamuna on the 27th September, 2008. Had both grenades that were thrown at the house exploded Mr. Weliamuna and his entire family might have been killed. Despite of the intervention of the Bar Association no one has been arrested for this attack. For further details please see:

It is the duty of the government to investigate and to arrest the persons who have been sending such death notices under the name of the Mahason Balakaya. However such investigations will not happen if the government itself is directly or indirectly linked to this initiative. It is only through pressure from everyone, including the political opposition in the country, civil society and the international community, that this threat can be exposed and eliminated.

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission