එම්.ටී.වී./එම්.බී.සී. මාධ්‍ය ජාලයට සහ එහි මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගේ ආරක්‍ෂාව තහවුරු කල යුතුය.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි

එම්.ටී.වී./එම්.බී.සී. මාධ්‍ය ජාලයට සහ එහි මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගේ ආරක්‍ෂාව තහවුරු කල යුතුය.

ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ ප‍්‍රමුඛ පෙලේ විද්්‍යුත් මාධ්‍ය ජාලයක් වන කැපිටල් මහාරජා සංවිධානයට අයත් එම්.ටී.වී./එම්.බී.සී. මාධ්‍ය ජාලය සහ එහි සේවයේ නිරත මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගේ ආරක්‍ෂාවට එල්ල වී ඇති තර්ජනය පිළිබඳව අප සංවිධාන එකතුවෙහි බලවත් අවධානය යොමු වී තිබේ. එබැවින් අප මේ මොහොතේ ප‍්‍රථමයෙන්ම ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා පොලිස්පතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ අදාල ආයතනයට සහ එහි සේවයේ නිරත මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගේ ආරක්‍ෂාව උදෙසා උපරිම අවධානය යොමු කරන ලෙස හා අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්නා ලෙසය.

එම්.ටී.වී. – එම්.බී.සී. මාධ්‍ය ආයතනයේ සේවයේ නිරත මාධ්‍යවේදීන් පසුපස හඹා එන කිසියම් පිරිසක් ඔවුන්ගේ ආරක්‍ෂාවට තර්ජනයක් වන ආකාරයට කටයුතු කරමින් සිටින බවට හා පන්නිපිටියේ සහ රත්මලානෙහි පිහිටි එම ආයතනයට අයත් මැදිරි සංකීර්ණයන්ට හානි සිදුකිරීම සඳහා සූදානමක් පවතින බවට බැහැර කල නොහැකි විශ්වාසනීය මාර්ග වලින් තොරතුරු ලැබී ඇතැයි පැවසෙන අතර මේ වන විටත් භැඅි ත්‍සරිඑ නාලිකාවේ ප‍්‍රධානියා විසින් ඒ පිළිබඳව කොම්පඤ්ඤවීදියේ පොලිසියට පැමිණිල්ලක් ද සිදුකර ඇත.

මෙය කිසිසේත්ම නොතකා හැර සිටිය හැකි තත්ත්වයක් නොවන අතර ඉතාමත්ම බියකරු තත්ත්වයක් ද වේ. මේ ආකාරයට මාධ්‍ය ආයතන වලට හා ඒවායේ මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ට තර්ජන එල්ල වීමෙන් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ මාධ්‍ය ප‍්‍රජාව මුහුණ දී සිටින බිහිසුණු වාතාවරණය තවදුරටත් වර්ධනය වන බවකි. විශේෂයෙන්ම එම්.ටී.වී. – එම්.බී.සී. ආයතනයට මෙයට පෙර 2009 ජනවාරි 5 වන දින දැවැන්ත ප‍්‍රහාරයකට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවූයේ ද එවැනි තර්ජනයන් පිළිබඳව කල්තියා ලැබී තිබුණු තොරතුරු පිළිබඳව පොලීසිය දැනුවත් කර පැවැති පසුබිමකදී බව සිහිපත් කරන අතර එවැනි තත්ත්වයක් තුළ නැවත වතාවක් එවැනි සිදුවීමක් සිදුවුවහොත් එහි වගකීම ආරක්‍ෂක අංශ ප‍්‍රධානීන් විසින් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම භාරගත යුතු බවද මෙහිදී දැඩි ලෙස අවධාරනය කරනු කැමැත්තෙමු.

එබැවින් අප සංවිධාන එකතුව නැවත නැවතත් ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා පොලිස්පතිවරයා ඇතුළු ආරක්‍ෂක ප‍්‍රධානීන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ එම්.ටී.වී./එම්.බී.සී. මාධ්‍ය ආයතනයෙහි හා එහි මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගේ ආරක්‍ෂාව තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා උපරිම පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස හා මේ වනවිටත් පොලීසියට කර ඇති පැමිණිල්ල පිළිබඳව පූර්ණ පරීක්‍ෂණයක් සිදුකරන ලෙසය.

මෙයට,
මාධ්‍ය සංවිධාන එකමුතුව වෙනුවෙන්

සුනිල් ජයසේකර
ලේකම්
නිදහස් මාධ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරය. 2013. 04. 17

Protect the right to cover demonstrations; stop attacks on journalists

Media Release 15th February 2010

We, the 5 media organization in Sri Lanka express our serious concern that the police and unruly mobs who enjoy police protection are continuing to violate our peoples right to protest and journalists right to cover those protests. These rights are guaranteed by the constitution and duty of the police is to protect these rights.

On 11th February 2010 in Dehiatthakandiya police grabbed the TV cameras of journalist Sugath Wijerathna of Sirasa TV and K.H.M. Samathapala of Swarnavahini TV and erased the footage they had filmed on police attack on peaceful protesters. The protest was organised as a part of the island wide campaign for the release of General (Rtd) Sarath Fonseka.

On 14th February In Tangalla thugs protected by the police grabbed the cassettes of Ajith Pushpakumara of Siyatha group and Rahula Hemantha of SirasaTV while they were coving a another protest held for the same purpose. It has been reported to our organiations that journalists covering such protest campaigns had to face obstructions by police in number of other occasions too.

We, 5 media organizations condemn these acts of violence against journalists and media, emphasising that the police behavior in these incidents are clear violation of our people’s right to information. The continuous trend of attacking journalists covering demonstrations has increased the suppressive situation media and journalists in Sri Lanka has been facing during the last few years.

We urge all democratic forces to voice their concerns against this dangerous trend of police violating peoples right to information which in turn threaten the democratic values in our society.

We urge the Inspector General of Police to take immediate steps to stop this illegal behaviour of police.

SC allows FR petition against Mervyn -Alleged assault on MTV crew at Kelaniya

 

(Daily Mirror – 05th Sep)

The Supreme Court yesterday granted leave to proceed with the rights violation petitions filed by the MTV television channel and its journalist against Minister Mervyn Silva and the IGP, claiming Rs. 110 million as compensation.

The Bench comprising Justices, Asoka de Silva, Saleem Marsoof and K. Sripavan granted leave to the MTV Channel to proceed with the petition on the alleged infringement of the fundamental rights to equality and equal protection of the law and right to the freedom of speech and expression and freedom to engage in lawful occupation and trade etc., and the freedom of movement.Court granted leave to the journalist for infringement of above fundamental rights in addition to the right to the freedom from torture. There were five intervenient petitions filed in support of these petitions. The matter was listed for hearing on December 4.

Sanjeeva Jayawardena with Rajeev Amarasuriya, Manoj Bandara and Dehan Hewawithana instructed by Sudath Perera Associates appeared for the petitioners.

Deputy Solicitor General, Demuni De Silva appeared for the Attorney General. Uditha Egalahewa, M.A. Sumanthiran, Ms. Ruwana Rajapakse, Chandaka Jayasuriya and J.C. Weliamuna appeared for the intervenient petitioners Free Media Movement, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Institute of Human Rights, Sri Lanka Working Journalists Union and Federation of Media Employees Trade Union respectively.

MTV channel and its media personnel J.K.A. Waruna Sampath cited Minister Mervyn Silva, Peliyagoda SSP K.D. Somapala, IGP, Peliyagoda HQI, Jagath Rohana and the Attorney General as respondents.

Petitioners complained that Minister Mervyn Silva manhandled and assaulted and forcibly snatched two video cameras from the media personnel of the MTV channel who were present to cover the ceremonial opening of second stage of the Fly-Over Bridge at Kelaniya on August on official government invitation.

Petitioner Waruna Sampath stated that his employer on July 31 received communication from the Media Unit of Ministry of Highways and Road Development on the said ceremonial opening of the said fly-over bridge and that on August 1 received further communication from the said Media Unit requesting to provide media coverage for the said event.

On August 4, they received another invitation from the Department of Information to deploy a media team to cover the said event.

He stated the said opening was to be held at the very same location in Kelaniya where Minister Mervyn Silva had abusively threatened MTV and its personnel not to attend any government function within the Kelaniya electorate.

The Petitioner Sampath stated he expressed concerns for his safety to News Director, Susil Kindelpitiya who in turn contacted by telephone Highways Minister’s Media Secretary, Shirantha Premawardane and inquired as to whether adequate security would be provided to MTV media personnel.

He said the Media Secretary, Premawardane had told News Director Kindelpitiya that there was no need for concern and that he himself would be present at the ceremony.

He stated in view of his re-assurance as well as the fact that the function was a state one which was to be graced by the Prime Minister, he and the MTV were confident that there would be no threat to him and consequently agreed to cover the event.

The Petitioner was detailed to cover the said event together with another camera assistant Deeptha Ranasinghe and MTV provincial correspondent Saliya Ranawaka.

He said while he was recording the events/activities just prior to the ceremonial opening, Minister Mervyn Silva together with his security contingent and associates, arrived at the location of the said government function and told the MTV media personnel to leave the place.

He said Minister Mervyn Silva then came closer to the petitioner and first asked for the video cassette and tried to forcibly seize his video camera which was the property of MTV and when the petitioner refused to release the video cassette or camera, several associates of the Minister surrounded him and grabbed him by his shirt collar. He said at the location of the above incident, SSP Somapala was present but walked away from the said location without rendering any assistance or protection.

The Petitioner said consequent to the attack inter alia upon his genital region, he was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital.

He also complained the IGP conspicuously failed or neglected to intervene to prevent Minister Mervyn Silva or his associates from blatantly manhandling and assaulting him and his colleagues.

3 journalists attacked by medical students

Thursday, 28 August 2008 17:09   ( lanka dissent.com ) 
Three journalists from private media institutions were allegedly assaulted and their cameras snatched at the Medical Faculty of the University of Colombo this afternoon (Aug. 28th).

Journalist Yamuna Darshani and cameraman Janaka Galappatti of ‘Lankadeepa’ newspaper and Sirasa TV journalist Dushyantha Manoj are the victims of the incident.

At the time, they had been seeking public opinion over the dispute surrounding the boycott of answer script marking at the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination.

A medical student had told them about his views, after which the media group had tried to take a photo when other medical students had turned unruly.

Two still cameras and a video camera had been seized from them.

Police had to intervene to rescue them from the undergraduates, and were admitted to hospital.

Later, they had lodged a complaint with the police, and the students had threatened the media group at the police station.

Police have found the seized cameras, but no arrests are yet to be made

MTV files FR against Mervyn

Mervyn confronts SIRASA TV

 

Labour Minister Mervyn Silva and his supporters have yet again confronted a Sirasa TV crew at an official function. On an invitation by the Ministry of Highways, the electronic media institution had sent a crew of two this morning to the opening of second phase of the flyover at Thorana Junction in Kelaniya.
As Minister Silva is known to be hostile towards Sirasa TV, the Highway’s Ministry’s Media Secretary Shirantha Premawardena had given an assurance that its employees would not come to any harm.
However, the minister and his bodyguards had assaulted correspondent Thushara Saliya Ranawaka and video cameramen Waruna Sampath and seized their cameras.
Before the commencement of the function, Minister Silva had inquired about the presence of Sirasa TV and upon identification, had ordered the cameraman to remove the tapes.
Thereafter, the bodyguards had snatched another camera in their possession, while the other had been damaged in the scuffle, the correspondent told ‘Lanka Dissent.’
He also said that there had been a large VIP and police presence at the scene, including top officers, but none had intervened.
The television crew has lodged a complaint with the Peliyagoda Police.
This is the third instance involving the Kelaniya flyover where Minister Silva had confronted and chased away Sirasa TV crews.

Government officials attack journalists

 

19th July 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Free Media Movement (FMM) is extremely displeased to report the assault of two more journalists and the harassment of another by government officials.

The journalists were covering the illegal demolishing of hundreds of homes in Colombo on 18th July under the guise of providing security for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting later this month.
 
On the afternoon of the 18th, Urban Development Authority (UDA) officials assaulted journalist Yohan Perera and photographer Pradeep Dilrukshana from the Daily Mirror newspaper and harassed TV journalist Dushantha Manoj from Sirasa TV. They were all covering the violent demolishing of the homes. Yohan Perera from the Daily Mirror was admitted to Colombo General Hospital after having sustained injuries from the attack.
 
Hundreds of police personnel at the scene were unable to stop these assaults against journalists. There is a mentality amongst all government officials given rise to by the action of those high up in the Government and the ruling party that they can, at their whim and fancy, assault journalists with complete impunity.

We see this incident as a sign of the absolute intolerance towards any independent coverage of critical issues related to democratic governance. It is the open policy of this government to quell dissent by violence. The impunity and the lack of any meaningful measures to address this violence against journalists places independent and professional voices in the media community in a very precarious position in Sri Lanka today.

Court orders Telecom firms to provide call details to CCD Indecent threatening calls to MTV News Director

   

By T. Farook Thajudeen

Colombo Additional Magistrate, Ms. Sujatha Alahapperuma directed five telecommunication institutions to disclose the names and the details of the owners of the telephones who were alleged to have given indecent telephone calls to the MTV News Director, Susil Kindelpitiya.

The News Director on February 29 complained to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) that some persons have attempted either to kidnap him or to harm him.

He alleged he was abused in filth by the anonymous callers. He added he left his residence at Batalanda, Gothatuwa around 8 a.m. and returned home by 7 p m.. While going to his office he was threatened by two unidentified persons.

The two youngsters in the ages of 20 to 25 years had followed him up to the Kotikawatte Junction and thereafter they had communicated with someone over the phone.

Once Mr. Kindelpitiya sent his driver in his car, the two youngsters had forcibly stopped and opened the rear door, and having found that he was not there, they had slammed the door saying “he was not there”.

Similarly once on his way home a vehicle had overtaken his vehicle and obstructed without allowing him to move forward.

The complainant stated he had informed this to the Police since the journalists were subjected to harassment.

The CCD told the Magistrate the driver, Chaminda Kumara had confirmed what Mr. Kindelpitiya had complained and sought the Magistrate’s direction to the five telecommunication institutions to provide the CCD with the details of the conversations and the names of the owners of those telephones.

Accordingly the Magistrate ordered the Telecommunication institutions to provide the details to the CCD and postponed further inquiries for May 30. 
 
Court orders Telecom firms to provide call details to CCD
   
Indecent threatening calls to MTV News Director

By T. Farook Thajudeen

Colombo Additional Magistrate, Ms. Sujatha Alahapperuma directed five telecommunication institutions to disclose the names and the details of the owners of the telephones who were alleged to have given indecent telephone calls to the MTV News Director, Susil Kindelpitiya.

The News Director on February 29 complained to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) that some persons have attempted either to kidnap him or to harm him.

He alleged he was abused in filth by the anonymous callers. He added he left his residence at Batalanda, Gothatuwa around 8 a.m. and returned home by 7 p m.. While going to his office he was threatened by two unidentified persons.

The two youngsters in the ages of 20 to 25 years had followed him up to the Kotikawatte Junction and thereafter they had communicated with someone over the phone.

Once Mr. Kindelpitiya sent his driver in his car, the two youngsters had forcibly stopped and opened the rear door, and having found that he was not there, they had slammed the door saying “he was not there”.

Similarly once on his way home a vehicle had overtaken his vehicle and obstructed without allowing him to move forward.

The complainant stated he had informed this to the Police since the journalists were subjected to harassment.

The CCD told the Magistrate the driver, Chaminda Kumara had confirmed what Mr. Kindelpitiya had complained and sought the Magistrate’s direction to the five telecommunication institutions to provide the CCD with the details of the conversations and the names of the owners of those telephones.

Accordingly the Magistrate ordered the Telecommunication institutions to provide the details to the CCD and postponed further inquiries for May 30. 
 

Sirasa TV Buttala correspondent assaulted by a politician (Sinhala language press release)

ශ්රී ලංකා වෘත්තීය පත්රකලාවේදීන්ගේ සංගමය (SLWJA)
මාධ්යසේවක වෘත්තීය සමිති සම්මේලනය (FMETU)
ශ්රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් ජනමාධ්යවේදීන්ගේ සංසදය (SLMMF)
ශ්රී ලංකා දෙමළ ජනමාධ්යවේදීන්ගේ සන්ධානය (SLTJ)
නිදහස් මාධ්ය ව්යාපාරය (FMM)

පුවත්පත් නිවේදනය / 2008 ජනවාරි 19

සිරස මාධ්යවේදී යූ.එස්.ඒ බණ්ඩාරට පහරදීම හෙළා දකිමු.

පසුගිය 16දා සිවිල් ජනයාට එරෙහිව ඔක්කම්පිටිය ප්රදේශයෙහි  මගී බස් රථයකට එල්ල වූ ජනඝාතක    ප්රහාරය වාර්තා කරමින් සිටි ජනමාධ්යවේදී යූ.එස්.ඒ. බණ්ඩාරට ප්රාදේශීය දේශපාලනඥයකු විසින් කරන ලද පහර දීම අප සංවිධාන තරයේ හෙළා දකී. යූ.එස්.ඒ. බණ්ඩාර සිරස ?පවාහිනී බුත්තල  ප්රාදේශිය මාධ්යවේදියා වන අතර ඔහු  පසුගිය 18දා සවස 5.30ට පමණ මෙම ප්රහාරයට අදාළ ? ගත කිරීම්හි යෙදී සිටියදී මෙලෙස පහර දී ඇත්තේ ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ දේශපාලනඥයකු වන සරත් වැලිහේන නම් අයකු විසිනි.

එම අවස්ථාවේදි එහි සිටි බුත්තල ග්රාමසේවක ලලිත් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙම පහර දීම වළක්වනු වෙනුවට කර ඇත්තේ බුත්තල දිසාපති මම යි, උඹ කොහොමද මගෙන් අහන්නේ නැතිව මෙහේ වීඩියෝ කරන්නේ යනුවෙන් බැණ වැදිම ය.  මෙම පුද්ගලයින් දෙදෙනාම සිරස ?පවාහීනී ආයතනයට මෙන්ම ජනමාධ්යවේදී බණ්ඩාර මහතාටද එරෙහිව එම අවස්ථාවෙහි දී කුපිිතකාරී උසිගැන්වීමක යෙදුන බව අප ආරංචි මාර්ග ප්රකාශ කරයි.

මෙවැනි මහජන යහපතට අදාළ සිදුවීම් ස්වාධීනව වාර්තා කිරීමට ජනමාධ්යට ඇති අයිතිය තොරතුරු දැන ගැනීමට මහාජනයාට ඇති අයිතියම වේ. මෙම ජනඝාතක ප්රහාරයට පෙර නාදුනන සන්නද්ධ පිරිස් හැසිරෙනු ප්රදේශවාසින් විසින් පොලීසියට වාර්තාකර තිබියදීත් ප්රහාරය වැළැක්වීමට පියවර ගැනීමට බලධාරීන් අසමත් වීම වසං කිරීම  මෙම තර්ජන ගර්ජනයන්හි අරමුණ බව පෙනෙන්නට තිබේ.

මෙම පහරදීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනමාධ්යවේදි බණ්ඩාර මහතා 19 වන දින බුත්තල පොලීසියෙහි ස්ථාන බාර නිලධාරී ජේ.ආර්. සිල්වා මහතාට පැමිණිළි කරන ලද අතර එහි අංකය 121 -181 වේ.  මෙම පහර දීම් සහ උසිගැන්වීමි මෙරට ව්යවස්තාව මෙන්ම අන්තර් ජාතික නීතිය මගින් සහතික කරනු ලබන තොරතුරු ලබා ගැනීමේ සහ බෙදා හැරීමේ මුලික අයිතිය උල්ලංඝනය කරයි. නීතිය අයිතිය ඇත්තේ පොලීසියට මිස දේශපාලනඥයින්ට නොවේ. ජනමාධ්යවේදින්ට පහරදීමට කිසිවකුට අයිතියක් නැත.

මෙම පහරදීම පිළිබදව නිසි පරීක්ෂනයක් සිදුකර මැරවර දේශපාලඥයාට එරෙහිව පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස අප සංවිධාන පොලිස්පතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටී. තමන් පළාතේ දිසාපති යැයි හදුන්වා ගනිම්න් උසිගැන්වීම්හි යෙදුන ග්රාම නිලධාරී ලලිත් රාජක්ෂට එරෙහිව විනයානුකූළ පියවර ගැනීම ද රාජ්ය පරිපාලන අමාත්යාංශයේ වගකිම බව ද අප අවධාරණය කරමු.

මෙම නිලධාරීන් දෙදෙනා වෙත (ලලිත් රාජපක්ෂ,ග්රාම නිලධාරී, බුත්තල – සරත් වැලිහේන, කොමියුනිකේෂන් සෙන්ටර්. ඹක්කම්පිටිය පාර,  බුත්තල) ඔවුන්ගේ ක්රියාවන්හි ඇති ප්රජාතන්ත්රවිරොධි  ස්වභාවය පෙන්වා දී ලිපි සහ තැපැල්පත් යවන සේ අප සංවිධාන ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය ගරු කරන මෙරට පුරවැසියන්ගෙන් සහ සංවිධානයන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටී.

Journalists face death threats for resisting Government MP’s thuggery

6th January 2008, Colombo, Sri Lanka: A number of journalists in Sri Lanka have received credible information that underworld gangs have been ordered to threaten, harass and even kill them for their involvement in protests held in response to the outrageous behaviour of Government MP Mervyn de Silva recently.

Mervyn de Silva, the Minister of Labour, stormed into the State run television station Sri Lanka Rupavahini Cooperation (SLRC) on 27th December 2007 with a group of thugs, that we now know included murderers and underworld drug dealers, and brutally assaulted its News Director, Mr. T.M.G. Chandrasekara. Journalists and staff of the SLRC and their colleagues from media organizations mobilized around the offices of the Chairman of SLRC to barricade the Minister and his motley array of thugs until the arrival of the Police and the Minister apologized for his behaviour live on camera. Though the FMM regrets that the situation escalated to the point that the Minister and one of his thugs were assaulted, we understand the enraged feelings of the journalists who had to face such an unprecedented attack on media.

The FMM is now deeply disturbed to hear that instead of immediate and stern disciplinary measures taken against the Minister, of which to date there has been none, underworld gangs in collusion with senior politicians are planning to intimidate and even murder some journalists involved in this incident.

Three leading media personnel of the MBC TV and Radio network that covered the incident extensively – the head of MTV Chevaan Daniel, Sirasa Director Kingsley Ratnayaka and Sirasa News Director Susil Kedelpitya  – have lodged complaints to the Maharagama police over death threats they have recently received. Their complaints record the names of underworld persons who have been given contracts to kill them. Even more shockingly, the FMM has received credible information that Sanath Balasuriya, President of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), Dharmasiri Lankapeli, General Secretary of the Federation of Media employees Trade Unions (FMETU) and a number for other senior journalists, trade union and media activists may be targets of assassination attempts related the SLRC incident.

This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the President has, to date, not taken any meaningful steps against the MP Mervyn de Silva’s reprehensible behaviour. As we note in our statement of 31st December 2007,

FMM, together with all Sri Lankans committed to liberty, human rights and democratic institutions, is appalled by the course of conduct adopted by the President in which he has now become the focus of attention in respect of bad governance, maladministration, and of defending the indefensible. We are at a loss to understand how the President can, with good conscience, persecute journalists of the SLRC whilst shielding his errant Minister, in blatant violation of every applicable democratic ethic.

We note with great concern that the SLRC incident and its aftermath proves beyond an iota of doubt the President’s and his government’s complete and utter disregard for the Rule of Law and democracy. This despicable culture of impunity and State sponsored terror places journalists who report on the gross abuse of power in untenable positions of having to fear for their lives and those of their loved ones.

We place the security of all those so threatened squarely in the hands of the Government and the President. The responsibility is theirs and theirs alone to ensure that all journalists and media personnel facing the threat of physical harm are afforded the fullest protection from underworld criminal elements and that MP Mervyn de Silva is urgently brought to book for his deranged abuse of power.

Recommended action
Please write to register your deep concern in light of these developments and to request that meaningful remedial measures are taken urgently to restore public confidence in the rule of law in Sri Lanka.

Hon. Anura Priyadarshana Yapa
Minster for Mass Media and Information
Ministry of Mass Media and Information
163, Kirulapona Road, Polhengoda,
Colombo 05,
Sri Lanka.

Fax: +94 – 11- 2513500