(August 20, 2009) A Sri Lankan court sentenced a journalist who wrote articles critical
of a military offensive against the Tamil Tigers to 20 years' hard labour under anti-terrorism
laws critics say are used to stifle dissent. Colombo High Court Judge Deepali Wijesundera
found J.S. Tissanayagam guilty on three charges of conspiracy and violating the Prevention
of Terrorism Act and powerful wartime emergency regulations that give the government
wide powers of arrest. Tissanayagam was arrested in March 2008 and accused of having
links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), after writing articles in
the Northeastern Monthly magazine about the impact of the government's offensive on
civilians. The government accused him of accepting LTTE money to write propaganda
in the magazine and sow dissent between minority Tamils and the Sinhalese ethnic majority.
Western governments and press freedom groups condemned his arrest as symbolic of crumbling
press freedom in Sri Lanka, where the Committee to Protect Journalists says at least
eight journalists have been killed since 2007. Others have been beaten, harassed,
detained and threatened with death. Tissanayagam, who is Tamil, signed a confession
but later told the court he did so under duress.