INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA
Censorship, Disinformation & Murder of Journalists
Why do they threaten us ?
ask Thilakaratne Kuruwita Bandara, Chief Editor, Maubima
and Ruvan F. Guruge, Director Editorial Board
27 February 2007
"... This campaign of intimidation
against Maubima newspaper is a reflection of the Government's attempt to
suppress the media. The intimidation campaign that Maubima is facing
today, is something that will most certainly be
leveled against other newspapers and
media organizations tomorrow.
Therefore, we request every one to unite and help defeat the forces
that are trying to suppress an independent media and the freedom of the
press." -
Thilakaratne Kuruwita Bandara, Chief Editor,
Maubima and Ruvan F. Guruge, Director Editorial Board
Comment by
tamilnation.org
Some 24 years ago, on 1 March 1983, Tamil leader,
Nadarajah Thangathurai at his trial under the infamous
Sri Lanka
Prevention of Terrorism Act declared prophetically -
"..I want to ask this question from my Sinhala
friends. Do you accept as correct and justified the various acts of
oppression that the Tamil people have suffered until now not only in
our land but in various parts of your land as a result of
various acts
of thuggery and terrorism? Do you also consider wrong our
attempt to free ourselves from the
inhumane oppression of your
government? Believe me our freedom is an assured fact and will
come. Once that happens your law books and terrorist laws cannot
touch us. Thereafter you will be the sole 'beneficiaries' of the
very laws that oppress us now... Our vision is global. Wherever
there is oppression, wherever there is violation of human dignity,
whether in Africa or in Latin America, we are prepared to link hands
with the oppressed and the under dog. When our vision is so
global how can it fail to take into account the future good of the
Sinhala people? .."
[see also
Sri Lanka should either charge or release a freelance Tamil
journalist says Committee to Protect Journalists
Free Media Movement calls for Immediate Investigation into Complaint by
Sunday Leader Editor of threats by Sri Lanka President Rajapakse and
Plot to kill Head of Media Organisation]
On
the orders of the Defense Secretary, Mr. Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa, Mr. Dushyantha Basnayake, a Director of Standard
Newspapers (Pvt.) Limited, and the Publisher of 'Maubima'
and 'Sunday Standard' newspapers, was arrested at around
10PM on 26 February by the Terrorist Investigations
Division (TID). The arrest took place at the offices of
CBE (Pvt.) Limited., where Mr. Basnayake is the Managing
Director.
Furthermore, we have been informed by reliable sources that
Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa intends to arrest Mr.
Tiran Alles, the Chairman of Standard Newspapers (Pvt.)
Limited. Until Minister Mangala Samaraweera was relinquished
of his duties as the Minister of Ports & Aviation, Mr. Tiran
Alles functioned as the Chairman of Airport and Aviation
Services Limited.
Following a complaint made by a certain individual a few
months ago, Criminal Investigations Division (CID)
interviewed Mr. Dushyantha Basnayake. Upon completion of the
interview, officers of the CID stated that there were no
allegations against Mr. Basnayake and he wasn't even
required to make an official statement. A few days after
this incident, President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself phoned
Mr. Basnayake and expressed his regrets for the
inconvenience caused to him. Under these circumstances, it
is clearly obvious that Mr. Basnayake has been arrested in
order to harass the Maubima newspaper.
After Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi
Sooriyaarachchi were dismissed, the President convened a
meeting of the Executive Committee of the SLFP in order to
give his reasons for the dismissal of two senior Ministers.
At the ensuing press conference, President Rajapaksa was
very critical of Maubima newspaper's coverage of human
rights violations. President Rajapaksa also criticized the
management and the journalists of Maubima newspaper during
his press conference of 24 February.
It is now clear that these threats and allegations are not
merely confined to words. A few days ago, there was an order
to impound the passports of Mr. Tiran Alles and Mr.
Dushyantha Basnayake. There also is a campaign underway to
intimidate and harass the advertisers of Standard
Newspapers. This campaign of intimidation against Standard
Newspapers is being carried out because President Rajapaksa
misguidedly believes that Standard Newspapers support the
politics of Mr. Mangala Samaraweera.
A few months ago, Maubima published an article critical of
the President. There was an additional article that stated
that a certain group in the United States was going to file
a lawsuit against Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for
human rights violations. This was the beginning of the
campaign of harassment against Maubima. Due to extreme
pressure brought on our journalists, Maubima was forced to
discontinue their defense and political columns. We were
under pressure not to publish even articles that were
already published by other newspapers.
There were special restrictions placed on our newspapers
when it came to publishing stories on the irregularities and
corruption in the Government. We had to think twice before
writing any story that exposed corruption in any Ministry
under President Rajapaksa. Most times we were forced to
cancel such articles. Finally, even our
coverage
on the human rights abuses that were happening throughout
Sri Lanka
became an issue with the President. We were forced to
curtail our reportage on these stories due to the harassment
and death threats made on the management and journalists of
our newspapers.
The first step in this intimidation campaign was an
allegation against our newspapers that claimed we were
supportive of the LTTE. We have amply proved that these
allegations were baseless and untrue, on many previous
occasions. Our newspapers are a platform where viewpoints of
every ethnic and political group in Sri Lanka can be found.
This conspiracy to harass and intimidate the Maubima
newspaper is due to the fact that several powerful
politicians dislike our independent viewpoints.
As part of this intimidation campaign, a Tamil journalist
for our newspaper,
Ms. Parameshwari Munuswamy, was arrested a few months
ago under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act and is languishing in prison
without any charges being brought against her. Our
journalists have been receiving death threats, which
increased after the press conference by the President and
the Defense Secretary on 24 February. We categorically state
that the arrest of Mr. Dushyantha Basnayake and the plan to
arrest Mr. Tiran Alles is a blatant attempt to silence the
Maubima newspaper.
Under the unstable, volatile political climate that prevails
in Sri Lanka, the defense apparatus has the right to detain
and investigate any person they deem suspicious. We accept
this fact. However, abusing the laws of the country and
exploiting the PTA to harass and intimidate journalists who
are critical of politicians is something that we thoroughly
condemn. This cowardly attempt to intimidate and silence
Maubima is a blatant abuse of power by politicians in high
office.
This campaign of intimidation against Maubima newspaper is a
reflection of the Government's attempt to suppress the
media. The intimidation campaign that Maubima is facing
today, is something that will most certainly be leveled
against other newspapers and media organizations tomorrow.
Therefore, we request every one to unite and help defeat the
forces that are trying to suppress an independent media and
the freedom of the press.
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