Return to War - Human Rights Watch

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Reporters Without Borders said that media freedom in Sri Lanka dropped dramatically from rank number 51 in 2005 to 141 in 2006. 166 Over the past year, President Rajapaksa has held regular breakfast meetings with editors. According to participants, on occasion he has admonished them for their “unpatriotic” writing. 167 The president has made similar statements in public. In a briefing to the media on March 29, 2007, he asked “all media institutions not to criticize our security forces, underestimating their morale. Media should not highlight the lapses of our security forces which may be advantageous to the enemy.” 168 The president’s brother, Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa, has been more direct. 169 On April 17, 2007, he reportedly called the editor of the Daily Mirror, Champika Liyanaarachchi, on her cell phone. According to Liyanaarachchi, he complained about the paper’s editorial stance on the war. In particular he cited an article the paper carried on April 16, about illegal activities by the Karuna group in the east, which he considered hostile to the government. He told her that the Karuna group could take revenge on her, and that the government would not be able to provide protection. According to Liyanaarachchi, Rajapaksa asked her to resign so as to avoid facing reprisals. He also allegedly said that he would “exterminate” journalist Uditha Jayasinghe, a reporter with the paper, who has written extensively on human rights issues in the country’s east. 170 Members of the Sri Lankan Army from the 512 Brigade based in Jaffna summoned the editors of three Jaffna dailies on November 6, 2006, and warned them against publishing any news critical of the military. 171 166 Reporters Without Borders, “Press Freedom Index 2006,” http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639 (accessed May 14, 2007). 167 Human Rights Watch interview with journalists, Colombo, March 2, 2007. 168 Free Media Movement, “President requests media not to criticise our Security Forces,” March 29, 2007, http://www.freemediasrilanka.org/index.php?action=con_news_full&id=510&section=news (accessed July 16, 2007). 169 Human Rights Watch interview with journalists, Colombo, March, 2007. 170 Reporters Without Borders, “Defence secretary threatens editor and journalist on Daily Mirror,” April 19, 2007, http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=21819 (accessed July 16, 2007). 171 Centre for Policy Alternatives, “War, Peace and Governance.” 83 Human Rights Watch August 2007
At a public meeting on April 6, 2007, the minister for health, Nimal Sripala de Silva, described journalists as “mad dogs” and recommended that they be given an antirabies injection. The minister’s angry outburst was a reaction to a series of exposes on corruption in the health sector. 172 In June 2006 the government reactivated the Press Council, a media regulatory body, which it had scrapped in favor of a Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in 2003. The change sparked protests from media advocacy groups in Sri Lanka because the Press Council Act, on which the Press Council is based, prohibits the publishing of certain cabinet decisions, cabinet documents, and defense, fiscal and security matters (section 16). 173 Section 16(3) prohibits the publication of an official secret as vaguely defined in the Official Secrets Act of 1955. On September 20, 2006, the Ministry of Defense sent a letter to media institutions, requesting that “news gathered should be subjected to clarification and confirmation.” 174 Journalists and editors viewed the letter as an attempt to impose censorship. Journalists and human rights activists explained to Human Rights Watch that they now engage in self-censorship to avoid running afoul of the authorities. As one senior journalist told Human Rights Watch, “The government wants to look at everything we write, wants to vet articles and condemn those which are not favorable. If this is not censorship, what is?” 175 Attacks on Uthayan and Sudar Oli The staffs of the popular Tamil dailies Uthayan and Sudar Oli have been repeatedly targeted because of the papers’ alleged pro-LTTE stance. 172 PK Balachandran, “Lankan minister calls scribes ‘mad dogs’,” Hindustan Times, April 12, 2007, http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=5afe13bb-7aaf-404a-8552-98326d71fb95 (accessed July 16, 2007). 173 Kelum Bandara and Kasun Yapa Karunaratne, “Media associations concerned about PC,” Daily Mirror, June 26, 2006, http://www.dailymirror.lk/2006/06/24/front/04.asp (accessed July 16, 2007). 174 International Federation of Journalists, “International Fact-Finding and Advocacy Mission to Sri Lanka,” October 11, 2006, http://www.ifj-asia.org/page/srilankamission061011.html (accessed July 16, 2007). 175 Human Rights Watch interview with journalist, Colombo, March 4, 2007. Return to War 84
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Sri Lanka Return to War Human Right
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Karuna group ......................
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I. Summary What I am saying is, if
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extrajudicial killings to unlawful
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2002. Since January 2006 more than
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against them, and list the location
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Emergency Regulations (372 Tamils,
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The mother of an abducted boy from
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disappearances. The police released
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commission, highlighting examples o
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Methodology This report is based pr
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discriminating against Tamils in th
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intimidation to force civilians who
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International humanitarian law proh
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in which an LTTE cadre shot and kil
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the Savukady camp in Batticaloa to
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they would no longer be responsible
Page 35 and 36: In mid-May the government began a n
Page 37 and 38: On May 29, UNHCR commented on the g
Page 39 and 40: Grama Niladari Divisions (the small
Page 41 and 42: The salvos landed in and around the
Page 43 and 44: didn’t take him to the hospital b
Page 45 and 46: While describing the loss of civili
Page 47 and 48: saw no weapons, no bunkers or artil
Page 49 and 50: V. Enforced Disappearances and Abdu
Page 51 and 52: months of 2007. 84 A government com
Page 53 and 54: In one illustrative case documented
Page 55 and 56: The Valvettiturai police registered
Page 57 and 58: would send him by bus or train to T
Page 59 and 60: wife tried his cell phone several t
Page 61 and 62: then that his brother had paid, alt
Page 63 and 64: as the disseminators of “LTTE pro
Page 65 and 66: It is evident that many of the [dis
Page 67 and 68: The government’s lack of commitme
Page 69 and 70: A lodge-owner who had 29 out of 36
Page 71 and 72: arguing that evicting Tamils from C
Page 73 and 74: VII. Emergency Regulations In Augus
Page 75 and 76: Given the wide ranging powers provi
Page 77 and 78: Large-scale arrests of Tamil youth
Page 79 and 80: held, how many had been charged wit
Page 81 and 82: Various United Nations principles i
Page 83 and 84: In addition, the regulations establ
Page 85: individuals and groups working to r
Page 89 and 90: On April 30, 2007, unidentified gun
Page 91 and 92: “We have blocked it as per a gove
Page 93 and 94: conference said they had already ca
Page 95 and 96: astards with the law we need to use
Page 97 and 98: humanitarian worker with direct kno
Page 99 and 100: The government dismissed the allega
Page 101 and 102: With the change of administration i
Page 103 and 104: IX. Karuna Group and State Complici
Page 105 and 106: stating that it “has no complicit
Page 107 and 108: of the government commission lookin
Page 109 and 110: Over the past 18 months, the govern
Page 111 and 112: Lack of witness protection A key pr
Page 113 and 114: president cannot appoint any commis
Page 115 and 116: Watch asked the Sri Lankan governme
Page 117 and 118: persons and refugees, and SLMM in r
Page 119 and 120: 7. Death of 51 persons in Naddalamo
Page 121 and 122: Members of the IIGEP have also expr
Page 123 and 124: In the current context, in particul
Page 125 and 126: domestic and international criticis
Page 127 and 128: To the Liberation Tigers of Tamil E
Page 129 and 130: • Urge the Sri Lankan government
Page 131: H UMAN R I GHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Ave
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Return to War - Human Rights Watch

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