Sri Lanka: Free Journalist Detained on Terrorism Charges

For more information: please contact Oliver Spencer, oliver@article19.org, +44 20 7278 9292

Sri Lanka: Free Journalist Detained on Terrorism Charges
365 days after Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam was detained under Anti-Terrorism legislation, ARTICLE 19 joins many people and organisations around the world calling for his immediate release.
Tissainayagam, now an Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience, was detained without charge on 7 March 2008. Following international calls for his release the Sri Lankan authorities finally brought charges against him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on 25 August 2008 for a series of newspaper articles. According to journalist and former Convener of the Sri Lankan Free Media Movement, Uvindu Kurukulasuriya, “Tissainayagam was considered a kind of bridge between the north and south, or the Sinhalese and the Tamils. He has written many articles concerning the ethnic situation in Sri Lanka.”Dr Agnes Callamard, Executive Director ARTICLE 19 adds “over the past 3 years more than 14 journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka and many have escaped to India and the West, fearing for their lives. Tissainayagam’s case well demonstrates the threats that counter terrorism legislation and measures pose to freedom of the press, as they are so easily abused. His continued imprisonment for the peaceful expression of his opinion sadly constitutes one of the many violations that are common place in today’s Sri Lanka, including wide censorship, self-censorship, death threats, violence and arbitrary arrests.”Today ARTICLE 19 joins seven media rights organisations in demanding that the Sri Lankan government urgently review his case. To read the full statement, visit: http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/international-press-freedom-groups-call-for-justice-for-jailed-sri-lankan-jo.pdfTo read past ARTICLE 19 statements on Tissainayagam’s case, visit:• Sri Lanka: Journalist Still in Detention After 250 Days - http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/sri-lanka-journalist-still-in-detention-after-250-days.pdf• Sri Lanka: Free Speech Indicted - http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/sri-lanka-free-speech-indicted.pdf

Journalist Tissainayagam to get “Reporters without borders” Award

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2008/12/post_104.html



Detained Sri Lankan Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam has been designated as a recipient of a prestigious award by the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Tissainayagam is behind bars in Sri Lanka being the first journalist to be charged under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act for his journalistic writing.
[J.S. Tissainayagam-in Aug 2008]
The awards will be distributed on Thursday 4 December, 11 a.m., at the Espace Fondation EDF, 6 rue Récamier, in Paris, Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner, will present the prize to the winners.
Tissainayagam has been given the award under Category 1 which relates to "Journalists who through their work, their principled stand or their attitude have displayed support for freedom of information".
The citation about Tissainayagam is as follows:Sri Lanka - J. S. Tissainayagam
Currently held in appalling conditions in a Colombo prison, Tamil journalist J. S. Tissainayagam was arrested in March 2008 while working on the launch of the news website Outreachlk. He was charged with terrorism on the basis of articles he wrote in 2006 in which he referred to a military offensive in the Tamil region that was accompanied, he said, by a terrible humanitarian crisis for the civilian population. This is the first time that a journalist has been held on terrorism charges because of what he wrote.
A contributor to the Sunday Times newspaper, Tissainayagam set up Outreachlk in February 2008 with funding from the German development agency GTZ. His lawyer has never been allowed to speak to him in private all the time he has been held by the anti-terrorism police in the capital. Attempts have been made to intimidate his wife and European parliamentarians had to intercede in order to get the authorities to agree to let him have the glasses he needs to read. Two other journalists are being held in connection with the case.
The 2008 nominees in the "Journalist" category in addition to Tissainayagam are :
Niger - Moussa Kaka
Syria - Michel Kilo
Russia - Natalia Morar
Vietnam - Nguyen Viet Chien
Cuba - Ricardo González Alfonso