Reporters Without Borders urge President to halt crack down on media.

Against a backdrop of a swift crackdown on independent media, Reporters Without Borders has urgently appealed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to put a stop to arrests and intimidation of journalists working for privately-owned and foreign media.

 
In a statement issued on 29th January, Reporters Without Borders said that “This wave of post-election violence could cast a lasting stain on the start of President Rajapaksa’s second term and bodes ill for the political climate during the coming years,” – it also highlighted the wave of election violence.
 
In their statement, Reporters Without Borders reminded the President of the observations he had made supporting press freedom on many occasions, including at a meeting with a Reporters Without Borders representative in October 2008.
 
“It is quite normal for journalists and privately-owned media to side with a candidate before and during a democratic election but it is unacceptable for them to the victims of reprisals once the elections are over,” the press freedom organisation added.
 
Since the conclusion of the election which the Opposition has said was not free and fair, police and unidentified groups have been targeting the independent Sri Lanka media, with particular focus on those that supported the leading opposition candidate, Gen. Sarath Fonseka. The five main organisations representing Sri Lankan journalists have issued a joint statement condemning the “post-election media suppression.”
 
Reporters without Borders particularly mentioned the following press freedom violations which they called were serious.
 
1. The arrest of Chandana Sirimalwatta, the Editor of Lanka. It is reported that the President’s brother, Secretary of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, threatened to burn the newspaper down a few days ago.
 
2. The office of Lanka E News was sealed by men in plain clothes using car with the license plate 32/ 84 32 who searched the office earlier in the day. The website itself has been blocked by the local telecom authorities.
 
3. Douglas Devananda Minister threatened the Jaffna based newspaper Uthayan with unspecified reprisals at an interview with the Colombo-based Daily Mirror newspaper yesterday.
 
 
4. Reporter Karin Wenger of the Swiss public radio station DRS is facing possible deportation on 1 February following the withdrawal of her press accreditation. “I had a visa and accreditation that were valid for the election,” she told Reporters Without Borders. “I think this decision is linked to the questions I asked an official during a news conference after the results were announced.” A presidential adviser referred to her insultingly as a “white face.”
 
5. A reporter with state radio broadcaster SLBC, Ravi Abeywickrema, has been attacked yesterday by SLBC official for criticising the station’s biased election coverage.
 
6. On the day the election result was announced, the army surrounded two privately-owned TV stations, Sirasa and Swarnavahini, in Colombo.
 
7. Photographers working for foreign news agencies were manhandled by the army at a news conference attended by Gen. Fonseka yesterday. One was forced to delete the photos on his camera’s memory card.  The army also prevented journalists from free engagement near a hotel being used by Fonseka the previous day.
 
Reporters Without Borders also urged President Rajapaksa to take action concerning the disappearance of Lanka E News political reporter and cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda, who has been missing since 24th January. His family has had no news of him since that date.