COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, January 30, 2008: Violence, threats, intimidation and anti-media remarks by senior politicians are threatening the safety of journalists working in war-torn Sri Lanka, a media rights group said Wednesday.
“The safety of journalists in Sri Lanka is in serious jeopardy as serious attacks and anti-media statements demonstrate a lack of respect for media freedom,” the International Federation of Journalists said. The Brussels-based group said that the authorities — locked in a bitter war with Tamil Tiger rebels — must initiate immediate and impartial investigations into attacks against journalists. A journalist, Suhaib Kasim, working for a state-run Tamil-language daily, was stabbed by unidentified assailants at his Colombo home on Monday.
Sri Lanka’s powerful defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse last weekend called for censorship and criminal defamation laws to prevent journalists from reporting on “negative military news” in the war on the rebels. He said he wanted the president to bring laws to mete out harsh punishment to offending reporters.
“The statement is an alarming reflection of the government’s growing and overt disregard for media freedom and the right of journalists to conduct their work freely,” the International Federation of Journalists said.
Although there is no formal censorship imposed, Sri Lankan authorities prevent journalists from traveling to areas held by rebels, who are waging a separatist conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people since 1972. The conflict has escalated since the government withdrew from the cease-fire agreement last month.