Colombo Editor’s Guild says that the government is encouraging the alarming trend towards physical attacks on journalists who criticize those in high public office. Last month, the CID questioned Lasantha Wickrematunge, the editor of Sunday Leader which exposed the Channel 9 Affair. He has written to the Inspector General of Police saying that he faces danger following the comments of Media minister Mangala Samaraweera that ‘the editor of Sunday Leader can be a disposable sacrifice for politically motivated elements’. Reports say BBC’s Colombo correspondent Susannah Price is among journalists who received death threats.
UN Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Abid Hussain and Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato’Param Kumaraswamy attended an International Colloquium on Expression and Defamation on 15 September. The Colombo meeting called on all states in the region to repeal criminal defamation laws, including those providing special protection to Presidents and public officers. Defamation laws have consistently been used against journalists in Sri Lanka.