Appeal Court ruling on former AG

	Former Attorney General Mohan Pieris with UN Secretry General Ban Ki Moon

Sri Lanka’s Appeal Court has ruled that former Attorney General Mr. Mohan Pieris could be called in as a witness to inquire into the disappearance of journalist, Prageeth Eknaligoda.

State Counsel told court that the order given by the Homagama Magistrate Court to call former attorney general before court was illegal.

Not illegal

Appeal Court stated that Homagama Magistrate Court has the power to issue such an order on the ground of new evidence in this case.

Sandya Eknaligoda, wife of Prageeth has requested courts to order police to produce the missing journalist in courts.

Former attorney general, Mr. Mohan Pieris had made a statement during a presentation at UN Committee against Torture (UNCat) that journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda has sought political asylum abroad.

Responding to the disappearance of political columnist and cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda, who is missing since January 2009, Mr Peiris told UNCaT in Geneva last November, that the journalist has sought asylum abroad.

“Our current information is, that Mr. Eknaligoda has taken refuge in a foreign country,” Mr.Mohan Peiris said answering to a question from a delegate.

Evidence Ordinance

The Appeal Court approving the decision of the Homagama Magistrate Court said that it could be challenged in future if the magistrate had violated the Evidence Ordinance.

	Sanjaya Eknaligoda and her son highlight Prageeth Eknaligoda’s plight

Prageeth, who had written articles and drawn cartoons critical of the government, was apparently abducted on his way home from the office and has not been seen since 24 January 2010.

BBC Sinhala

Sri Lanka’s woeful January way-points

For Sri Lankan journalists, January might be the cruelest month. In January 2011, Sonali Samarasinghe wrote about the death of her husband Lasantha Wickramatunga two years earlier on January 8, 2009. In January 2010 I reported in “Sri Lanka: A year later, still failing to fight media attacks” about the government’s inactivity in investigating Wickramatunga’s death one year on. That was a follow up to the February 2009 “Failure to Investigate,” in which CPJ had investigated his death and two other January attacks — one a bombing raid on an independent television station and the other — an attack similar to that on Wickramatunga, though not fatal — on Upali Tennakoon, the editor of a Sinhala newspaper.

Now, three years after Wickramatunga, the editor-in-chief of The Sunday Leader, was killed by eight men on four motorcycles who attacked him with metal and wooden poles after cutting off his car on a busy street near a police checkpoint and air force base in a suburb of Colombo, the court hearing periodic reports from police in the investigation has made no substantive movement toward bringing any of the perpetrators to justice.

Samarasinghe has released a wide-ranging indictment of the government’s inactivity and the continuing onslaught against independent media in Sri Lanka. The Free Media Movement released its statement Sunday. The Sunday Leader‘s remembrance, “Lasantha Was Murdered 3 Years Ago …Remembering Lasantha,” noted that “three years later and with over sixty dates in court, the Police have still not made any headway with the investigation.”

And coming up on January 24 is the second anniversary of the disappearance of Prageeth Eknelygoda, a cartoonist and pro-opposition journalist – another case that remains tied up in court hearings with no substantive movement. Eknelygoda’s wife and two sons have gotten no word from any official body of the Sri Lankan government, from the lowest police desk to the highest levels of the ministry of justice, about what happened to Eknelygoda.

In 2011, Sri Lanka ranked fourth worst in the world in terms of allowing murders of journalists to go unpunished, according to our global Impunity Index. As we noted in our report, “President Mahinda Rajapaksa has presided over a dark era of targeted media killings and complete law-enforcement failure in addressing the crimes. All nine journalist murders in the past decade have gone unsolved, leaving persistent questions as to whether authorities have been complicit in some of the crimes.”

The government has made public its report from the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which has been rejected internationally as a whitewash of conduct in the decades-long conflict with secessionist Tamil movements, notably the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. As we noted in a November 15 blog, “Sri Lanka’s savage smokescreen,” “A March 2011 report by a panel of experts appointed by [UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon] called the LLRC ‘deeply flawed.’ It recommended that the government should end practices that limit freedom of movement and freedom of expression ‘or otherwise contribute to a climate of fear.’

The result of all this mayhem is that Sri Lanka’s independent media has been largely restrained, though voices still speak out on occasion. The government’s attempt to rewrite the history of one of the most brutal civil conflicts in modern times has been challenged, but not yet discredited, by any independent international body of any stature.

In that context, the January 2009 murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga and the January 2010 unexplained disappearance of Prageeth Eknelygoda are only two way-points along Sri Lanka’s route to abandonment of its international standing as a country with a rule of law. And, of course, a free press.

By Bob Dietz/CPJ Asia Program Coordinator

[Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk. ]

Sri Lankan media offers reward for tips on attackers

 
 
July 02, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) and the Newspaper Publishers Association are offering a reward of five million rupees for information on the assault on journalist Namal Perera.
 
 
Informants could give information that lead to the arrest of the assailants by calling 0033 147 777 414 or sending emails to helppresssrilanka@gmail.com, representatives of the organisations told a news conference Wednesday.
The informants could remain anonymous and use a code to claim the reward, they said.

Freelance journalist Namal Perera, who writes about the ethnic war and also works for the SLPI, was clubbed along with UK embassy political officer Mahendra Ratnaweera and their car smashed by a group of unidentified men in broad daylight Monday.

They were hospitalised after the assault, the latest in a string of attacks on journalists, especially defence correspondents, which drew widespread condemnation.

The United States embassy said in a statement Tuesday that it condemned the attack, calling it a “brutal and unprovoked” attack and said it was concerned at the suppression of media which was essential for democracy.

Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement, a rights body, said Perera had narrowly escaped being abducted in the same way Keith Noyahr, defence correspondent of The Nation newspaper was abducted and beaten recently.
 
The US embassy and media groups have said they hoped that a ministerial committee appointed to look into complaints of harassment and death threats against media personnel would probe the latest assault.
 
 
 

Assault on Journalist Mr. Namal Perera

30th June 2008

The Free Media Movement (FMM) is shocked and outraged at the brutal assault of former TNL News Director and currently Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) employee Namal Perera and a friend this evening (Monday, 30th June 2008). Mr. Perera and his friend, Mr. Mahendra Ratnaweera, a Sri Lankan national working at the British High Commission in Colombo, were driving between Narahenpita and Kirulapone at around 06:00 p.m. when they were waylaid. The assault took place on the busy highway, in the vicinity of an army installation, the government information department and the security checkpoint at the Narahenpita bridge. The assaulters attempted to abduct Mr. Perera, but were resisted, and both Mr. Perera and his friend were badly beaten in the ensuing fracas. They are currently receiving treatment at the Apollo hospital. The potential abductors had clearly shouted that it was Mr. Namal Perera they were seeking.

FMM notes that at the time of the assault, the SLPI was contemplating legal action against the state-controlled Dinamina newspaper for reporting that the SLPI had sent members of the LTTE on a foreign tour to Denmark on the pretext that they were journalists (see FMM Statement of 27th June 2008).

This latest incident is sadly typical of the rampant assault on democracy and the freedom of expression that is taking place in Sri Lanka today. State-controlled media and government ministry websites are in the habit of baselessly demonising journalists and media professionals as supporters of the LTTE, and acts of physical harm are being committed with total impunity. The complete contempt for democratic freedom, fundamental human rights, and the rule of law that is demonstrated in incidents such as these, openly condoned by the highest government officials at various times, engenders no confidence that the dark climate of fear and intimidation shrouding media freedom in Sri Lanka today is being addressed by the government effectively or sincerely.

We will be closely monitoring the actions taken by the government to bring the perpetrators to justice in this latest criminal act, in particular the Cabinet Sub-Committee under the Chairmanship of Minister Sarath Amunugama, and will be treating this case as the litmus test of its effectiveness.

FMM calls upon all citizens of Sri Lanka to regard these revolting acts of cowardly violence against journalists as an assault on democracy and the human rights of all Sri Lankans. FMM takes this distressing opportunity of the assault on Namal Perera and Mahendra Ratnaweera to unreservedly condemn, once again, the continuing attacks in various forms against independent media and to call for their immediate end.  

Signs of media repression: A journalist followed and another media worker threatened

30th January 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The FMM with regret and foreboding notes that threats and intimidation of journalists continue in Sri Lanka, with two more disturbing cases reported today.

A car and a motorbike followed investigative journalist Lasantha Ruhunage of the Sinhala Ravaya newspaper for more than 30 minutes yesterday, attempting to hit him from behind. This incident took place between 6.00- 6.30 pm on 29th January while he was on his way home after work. Lasantha told the FMM that he tried his best to evade the car that was following him but it almost hit him while he was negotiating a bend. He made a complaint to Mirihana police on the incident this afternoon.

Lasantha wrote a series of investigative reports on the internal political rift of the JVP (Peoples Liberation Front) during last two weeks in the Ravaya newspaper. On 29th January a former leader of the JVP, Samantha Katipearachchi complained to the judiciary that he is facing death threats from the JVP for leaking the information to the press on the internal rift. The FMM strongly suspects the reason to inflict harm upon Lasantha by way of an accident is on accont of his recent articles on the JVP.

In another incident, two persons armed with a pistol entered the house of media worker Duleep Dushantha of the state owned SLRC (Sri Lanka Rupavahini Cooperation) on the night of 29th January. As he was not in the house at that time they threatened his mother with death if she informed the police of the incident.

Duleep was prominent in the agitation against the brutish behaviour of Government Minister Mervyn de Silva on 27th December 2007, when he stormed in to the SLRC and assaulted its News Director. We note in this regard that fellow journalist Hemantha Mawalage, a News Producer of SLRC who spoke on behalf of the enraged SLRC staff on the day of the Ministers violent intrusion was also attacked with sharp knife on January 25th night and is still under medical treatment. The FMM has received credible information that underworld gangs have launched a witch hunt for leading media personal who played key role in the agitation. Threats against Duleep Dushantha are very likely to be linked to his role in the agitation.

Both incidents show that media and journalists in the South of Sri Lanka are under unprecedented siege by various anti-democratic forces. Threats and intimidation from those in the Government and their private militia have become a daily occurrence that the Police and the Government are unable and unwilling to stop.

The culture of impunity that prevails is evident in the fact that the Inspector General of Police, Victor Perera, has failed even to acknowledge a joint letter handed over to him by leading editors, newspaper owners and media organizations on 10th December 2007 requesting him to speed up investigations related to offenses against media personnel and journalists.

FMM strongly urges the Government to look in to theses incidents immediately and take remedial measures that will address this dramatic and seemingly unstoppable erosion of media freedom and the freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.