Recently in Sri Lanka Category

J. S. Tissainayagam was released on bail on Monday and things may be looking up for the media in Sri Lanka. Tissainayagam's release from a sentence of 20 years' "rigorous imprisonment," came amid calls on President Mahinda Rajapaksa to extend him a full pardon, as it is within his presidential powers to do. For now, at least, Tissa, as he is known, is out of his prison cell though not free to leave the country--the appeal court that set him free demanded that he hand over his passport as part of the bail agreement. But there are many other cases still hanging in the air in Sri Lanka that will not go away, even though they are making their way through the courts.

THE international community must take steps to ensure that whichever Sinhalese candidate wins Sri Lanka's 26 January presidential election, the marginalisation of Tamils and other minorities must be addressed in the interest of peace and stability. Sri Lanka: A Bitter Peace,* the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines how eight months after the military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the post-war policies of President Mahinda Rajapaksa have deepened rather than resolved the grievances that generated and sustained militancy. Though the election campaign between Rajapaksa and retired General Sarath Fonseka has now opened up some new political space, Sri Lanka has yet to make significant progress in reconstructing its battered democratic institutions or establishing conditions for a stable peace.

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Philip Alston, the top UN official dealing with extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, says that reports by three experts who examined video of the execution of prisoners in Sri Lanka "strongly suggest that the video is authentic."

 

Mr. Alston, a human rights lawyer who is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on explained that he had commissioned reports from the experts -- in forensic pathology, forensic video analysis and firearm evidence. he did so after the government of Sri Lanka responded to his request for "an independent investigation" by claiming that the video was fake based on reports produced by four investigators, two of whom worked for the Sri Lankan military,. Alston said this investigation was "more impressionistic than scientific."

Alston called for an inquiry into the executions after poresenting scientific analysis of the video that documents a war crime. It was recorded on a soldier's cellphone in January 2009, near the end of the government's war with Tamil separatists.

A year after the murder of the prominent Sri Lankan editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, the island's independent media is still under siege, reports TIME magazine. An investigation into Wickrematunge's death has gone nowhere, and at least half a dozen other journalists, including his widow, have left the country in fear since his death. Wickrematunge, who was also a freelance reporter for TIME, was shot on Jan. 8, 2009, while driving to work. His car was followed by two motorcycles, which blocked his path as the gunmen shot him through the driver-side window, when he was just five minutes away from his office.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY was the 100th day of J.S. "Tissa" Tissainayagam's 20-year prison term. Tissa, was convicted of "terrorism" charges for articles documenting human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan military, as well as the difficult conditions faced by Sri Lankans displaced in the nation's long war.  His sentence was a dire warning to other journalists who would dare be critical of the government. They are right to be concerned as the Committee to Protect Journalists reports. Now please read on

Sri Lanka has opened up the vast refugee camps which have been holding tens of thousands of Tamils since the end of the war with Tamil Tiger rebels. Ponniah Manikavasagam (of the BBC's Tamil service) in Vavuniya has met refugees allowed out of the camps and those who have been permanently resettled.

The Sri Lankan government says the UN has asked it to explain allegations that Tamil Tiger rebel leaders were executed as they tried to surrender.

The president's office said it was studying the request and would take any action necessary.

The claims - rejected by the government - were first made in a Sri Lankan newspaper and attributed to Sri Lankan ex-military chief Gen Sarath Fonseka.

Gen Fonseka has since said his remarks were misunderstood.