Return to War - Human Rights Watch
Return to War - Human Rights Watch Return to War - Human Rights Watch
Soon after the August 2006 attacks on Uthayan, the government provided the paper’s editor Vithyatharan with two police guards at his Colombo home. On August 13 the security was unexpectedly withdrawn, Vithyatharan told Human Rights Watch. He raised the unexpected withdrawal with President Rajapaksa at a breakfast meeting of 25 editors on August 16. According to Vithyatharan, the president immediately lost his temper and started to shout. Vithyatharan told Human Rights Watch, President Rajapaksa suddenly started shouting at me in front of everybody. He said, ‘I have asked to withdraw your security! No one will come to your place to give you security! You go and ask [LTTE leader] Prabhakaran! You people are praising the law of the jungle! Policemen and security are scared to come to your place since you are LTTE!’ I told him that I am working under your umbrella—it is your duty to give me protection. He started shouting at me again. He said, ‘I am not like Chandrika [former President Chandrika Kumaratunga]! I am a different person! I will hammer you people and teach a lesson to your people in Jaffna!’ 183 Blocking of Tamilnet website On June 15, 2007 internet service providers in Sri Lanka blocked access to the Tamilnet website, apparently on government orders. Based in London, Tamilnet (www.tamilnet.com) is a widely read, English and German language website that publishes pro-LTTE news and opinion. It is popular among Tamils who live outside Sri Lanka, as well as journalists, diplomats, and others who follow Sri Lankan news. At this writing it remained blocked inside Sri Lanka but was available outside the country. 183 Human Rights Watch interview with N. Vithyatharan, Colombo, March 3, 2007. 87 Human Rights Watch August 2007
“We have blocked it as per a government directive,” said an unnamed spokesman for Dialog, a telecommunications company. 184 An official at the state carrier Sri Lanka Telecom confirmed the company was blocking the site, 185 but company Chief Corporate Officer P.N.E. Abeysekara said the company had not blocked Tamilnet, and was investigating. 186 (The government owns slightly under 50 percent of Sri Lanka Telecom, which is run by the Japanese company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT). 187 ) Sri Lanka's government and military denied they had ordered internet service providers to block the site. 188 “The government has nothing to do with this," Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said. 189 At the same time, government defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella joked that he would like to close the site. “I do not know, but I would love to hire some hackers,” he said, adding that he had no access to people who could do the job. 190 Attacks on Sinhala media The Sinhala-language press has also come under governmental pressure. On November 22, 2006, agents of the Terrorist Investigation Division arrested Munusamy Parameswary, a reporter for the weekly newspaper Mawbima, under the Emergency Regulations, accusing her of “helping the LTTE and a suspected suicide bomber.” On March 22, 2007, the Supreme Court found no reasonable grounds for her detention and ordered her release. Before Parameswary’s release, on February 27, the Terrorist Investigation Division arrested Dushantha Basnayake, the spokesman and financial director of Standard Newspapers Ltd., the company that publishes Mawbima and the English-language 184 Simon Gardner, “Sri Lanka Urged to Stop Censoring Pro-Tiger Website,” Reuters, June 22, 2007. 185 “Sri Lanka Seeks Hackers to Down Pro-Tiger Website,” Agence France-Presse, June 20, 2007. 186 Gardner, “Sri Lanka Urged to Stop Censoring Pro-Tiger Website,” Reuters. 187 “Sri Lanka Seeks Hackers to Down Pro-Tiger Website,” Agence France-Presse. 188 “Popular Tamil Website ‘Blocked,’” BBC, June 20, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6221844.stm (accessed June 27, 2007). 189 Gardner, “Sri Lanka Urged to Stop Censoring Pro-Tiger Website,” Reuters. 190 “Sri Lanka Seeks Hackers to Down Pro-Tiger Website,” Agence France-Presse. Return to War 88
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Soon after the August 2006 attacks on Uthayan, the government provided the<br />
paper’s edi<strong>to</strong>r Vithyatharan with two police guards at his Colombo home. On August<br />
13 the security was unexpectedly withdrawn, Vithyatharan <strong>to</strong>ld <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong>.<br />
He raised the unexpected withdrawal with President Rajapaksa at a breakfast<br />
meeting of 25 edi<strong>to</strong>rs on August 16. According <strong>to</strong> Vithyatharan, the president<br />
immediately lost his temper and started <strong>to</strong> shout. Vithyatharan <strong>to</strong>ld <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong><br />
<strong>Watch</strong>,<br />
President Rajapaksa suddenly started shouting at me in front of<br />
everybody. He said, ‘I have asked <strong>to</strong> withdraw your security! No one<br />
will come <strong>to</strong> your place <strong>to</strong> give you security! You go and ask [LTTE<br />
leader] Prabhakaran! You people are praising the law of the jungle!<br />
Policemen and security are scared <strong>to</strong> come <strong>to</strong> your place since you are<br />
LTTE!’<br />
I <strong>to</strong>ld him that I am working under your umbrella—it is your duty <strong>to</strong> give<br />
me protection. He started shouting at me again. He said, ‘I am not like<br />
Chandrika [former President Chandrika Kumaratunga]! I am a different<br />
person! I will hammer you people and teach a lesson <strong>to</strong> your people in<br />
Jaffna!’ 183<br />
Blocking of Tamilnet website<br />
On June 15, 2007 internet service providers in Sri Lanka blocked access <strong>to</strong> the<br />
Tamilnet website, apparently on government orders. Based in London, Tamilnet<br />
(www.tamilnet.com) is a widely read, English and German language website that<br />
publishes pro-LTTE news and opinion. It is popular among Tamils who live outside<br />
Sri Lanka, as well as journalists, diplomats, and others who follow Sri Lankan news.<br />
At this writing it remained blocked inside Sri Lanka but was available outside the<br />
country.<br />
183 <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> interview with N. Vithyatharan, Colombo, March 3, 2007.<br />
87<br />
<strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> August 2007
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