Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Prageeth's wife latest victim of Sri Lankan intolerance



By Bob Dietz/Committee to Protect Journalists
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On Thursday and Friday, we wrote about the ugly government backlash to last week's U.N. Human Rights Council resolution calling for an investigation into Sri Lanka's alleged abuses of international humanitarian law during its war with Tamil separatists.

That campaign of intimidation continues: In the magistrate's court where Sandhya Eknelygoda has been trying to gain any information about the whereabouts of her husband, Prageeth, who disappeared on January 24, 2010, she came under harsh questioning -- observers at the court called it intentionally intimidating -- from government lawyers about her presence at the UNHRC in Geneva. Before she returned home from Switzerland, her name had been denounced in the government-controlled media as one of the government's critics -- several of whom have been denounced as "traitors."


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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Dying for the truth in Sri Lanka



By Richard Lindell |ABC News
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While the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka appear willing to give up some democratic rights to the government that ended the civil war, others aren't. And for those activists and members of the media getting the truth out can be a deadly business. Activists and reporters continue to disappear, and dissenting voices are silenced in a climate of fear and intimidation.

Elizabeth Jackson: In a rare opportunity, correspondent Richard Lindell was recently granted a visa to Sri Lanka.

There he saw first hand a government intent on intimidation and a population cowered into submission. That includes the country's journalists. Richard Lindell spoke to Frederica Jansz, the editor of Sri Lanka's Sunday Leader.


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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Why the UN acts to hold Sri Lanka accountable for war crimes



By J.S. Tissainayagam | Global Post
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A resolution on Sri Lanka was passed in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Thursday. Human rights activists hailed the resolution as a hopeful first step by the international community in holding Sri Lanka accountable to war crimes. It is significant that this resolution was sponsored by the United States which became a full member of the UNHRC only in 2009.

The 27-year civil war in Sri Lanka between the Sinhala and Tamil communities ended in May 2009 with the government defeating the Tamil guerrilla group, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The aftermath of the war saw increasing evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Government and LTTE during the final months of fighting.


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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Journalists are 'traitors', says Sri Lanka's state TV



By Roy Greenslade | The Guardian
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Sri Lanka's state-controlled media has described journalists as "traitors" following the UN human rights council's call for an investigation into the country's alleged abuses during its war against Tamil separatists.

In an attack on Sri Lankan journalists, both at home and in exile, state television accused them of "betraying the motherland."


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