Image: Ambassador  Kariyawasam with the president Obama. Contradicting Sri Lanka president Sirisena who has pleaded with USA president elect Donald Trump to save Sri Lanka from war crimes charges at the Geneva based UNHRC ,the Sri Lankan Ambassador to USA says that ” there is no question of the US interfering in this process”. He […]

Image courtesy of voiceofjournalists.com. Media Minister Gayantha Karunatileka yesterday informed Parliament on moves to establish a new rating agency for advertising and programs aired on electronic media. The Minister, speaking during the Appropriation Bill Committee stage debate for Ministry of Mass Parliamentary Affairs and Media, said that flaws in rating systems available now have given […]

Image: Sri Lanka experienced widespread abductions which could be part of the war crime inquiry. By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI , ASSOCIATED PRESS. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s leader is seeking the support of President-elect Donald Trump to free Sri Lankan troops from war crime allegations from the country’s decades-long civil war. President Maithripala Sirisena said […]

Image: Tiran Alles with Mahinda Rajapaksa. ‘All are equal but some are more equal than others’. by Nirmala Kannangara. The former parliamentarian’s influence extends beyond the three powerful Rajapaksa brothers who visited him in remand prison. Although the RADA funds had been disbursed for the Jaya Lanka housing project, not a single house had been […]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins the Free Media Movement (FMM), Sri Lanka in expressing serious concerns over actions by the Ministry of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media on the Ada Derana News TV channel. The IFJ demands that the Sri Lankan authorities refrain from any arbitrary action restricting freedom of the press. The […]

Gehan Gunatilleke. A year ago, Sri Lanka promised the world that it would repeal its current Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). In a historic co-sponsored resolution, it assured the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that it would replace the PTA with counterterrorism legislation that complies with international best practices. The current PTA is described as […]

An important meeting between President Maithripala Sirisena and Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarians, led by Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan, took place in Parliament last Thursday (24). The TNA played a tremendous role in ousting the Rajapaksa regime and establishing the National Unity Government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in […]

Image: Will their prayers be answered by the authorities? Shivarathri celebrations at a Shivam temple in Colombo (c) Dinuka Liyanawatte. Gehan Gunatilleke. What’s your general take on the performance of the coalition government? We in Sri Lanka tend to understand this government purely as a coalition of political parties. But I think this is also […]

( FMM Statement) The Free Media Movement’s (FMM’s) attention has been drawn to the situation arisen in relation to the issuance of an Interpol order on 25th of November by Gampaha Magistrate Mrs. Kavindra Nanayakkara to arrest Mr. Sandaruwan Senadheera, Editor of Lanka E News, for the allegation of the contempt of court. This is […]

SRI LANKA: A woman’s complaint against the Magistrate and several police officers in Mahiyanganaya. The Asian Human Rights Commission has received a detailed complaint from Mrs. Herath Mudiyanselage Podi Kumarihami of Poojanagaraya, Mahiyangana, in the Badulla District. Her complaint reveals that the Magistrate of the Mahinganaya Magistrate’s Court, Ms. Thisani Thenabadu has taken several actions […]

Image courtesy  of CNBC. by Tariq Ali Fidel Castro, Cuba’s leader of revolution, has died aged 90. Here is an extract from Tariq Ali‘s introduction to The Declarations of Havana, Verso’s collection of Castro’s speeches. On 26 July 1953 an angry young lawyer, Fidel Castro, led a small band of armed men in an attempt to seize the Moncada barracks in […]

Illegal International warrant to arrest LeN editor Sandaruwan : Comic court hearing founded on conspiracy. LeN editorial statement. It was further confirmed that Sri Lanka’s minister of justice Wijedasa Rajapakse is acting with ulterior and conspiratorial motives when blabbering and bluffing in Parliament. The minister said, the independence of the judiciary is being undermined while […]

“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past”. Fidel Castro My heartfelt sympathies to the people of Cuba on the demise of their great leader Commander Fidel Castro. The former Cuban leader who stood by his principles and convictions and led the people of Cuba for more than 50 […]

Gampaha chief magistrate Kavindya Nanayakkara today (25) issued a red warrant for the arrest of Lanka e News editor Sandaruwan Senadheera on a request by an intervening party on a charge of contempt of court. The order is to enforce the red warrant through Interpol. Commenting on this, an international lawyer dealing with Interpol warrants […]

Issuing a statement as  the Chairperson, Office for National Unity and Reconciliation, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga  says that The strictest action must be taken without delay, against persons or groups who act to provoke disharmony by creating divisions among citizens along ethnic and religious lines. The full statement follows: The Office for National Unity and Reconciliation […]

By P K Balachandran  |  Express News Service  | COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court on Friday issued an international arrest warrant against Lankaenews Editor Sandaruwan Senadheera for contempt of court. The warrant is to be executed through Interpol, the local media reported. This is the first time a Sri Lankan court has issued an international […]

Image: BBS General Secretary Galagoda aththe Gnansara at the Sugathadasa Stadium during a rally to welcome Myanmar’s hardline 969 monk Ashin Wirathu. Radical Buddhist monks threatening demolition of majority Muslim suburbs of Colombo and employing violent, racist and threatening rhetoric against public officials continue to enjoy impunity under the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government, which was swept into […]

A lawyer today filed fourteen Contempt of Court actions in the Supreme Court against the editor of Lankaenews website Sandaruwan Senadheera. The lawyer – Deputy Mayor of Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Municipal Council Madura Vithanage – is seeking the Court’s jurisdiction to punish Senadheera for allegedly publishing defamatory articles on Lankaenews. Vithanage complaining that there had […]

Image: Media activist in Sri Lanka at a press freedom campaign. The government has published a discussion paper on media standards and entitlements in Sri Lanka. The government has invited media organisations, owners and publishers associations, journalists’ unions and associations, civil society organisations and members of the public to express their views on this proposal. […]

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. […] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall […]

Image: Sri Lankan activist participating in a media campaign in Colombo REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds. The engineer, who reportedly sat on the Speaker’s chair, is alleged to have threatened two lobby reporters after the media reported the incident. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said today he would inquire into the complaint about the threats. The Speaker gave this assurance […]

Image:Sri Lanka police are entirely under the Central government. By PK Balachandran | Express News Service | COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Constitutional Assembly’s sub-committee on Center-Provincial relations has recommended that the provinces be granted powers over land and police; that the powers of the provincial Governor be drastically pruned, and that there be a fair […]

Image: Picture of the mosque road board was destroyed ,later  a Buddhist flag erected in its place. Dear Mr. Jayasundara, Attached herewith, is a follow-up Complaint to you, signed by 5000+ people from Sri Lanka, regarding the inaction of the police against extremist groups, particularly those led by Buddhist monks. The petition is still online […]

Image (c)Sri Lanka Brief. A bad workman’s tools and the media have one thing in common; they get blamed for others’ failures. The Rajapaksa government vilified its critics as ‘traitors’ and the present administration brands all dissenters ‘racists’. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe launched into a tirade against the media the other day in Parliament as […]

Image: BBS head Galabodaatthe Gnanasara threatening a Muslim clergy (file photo). By Jehan Perera. The passage of the second reading of the budget by a 2/3 majority in parliament indicates that the Government of National Unity continues to hold. The differences in opinion between the government partners that sometimes manifest themselves openly have not as […]

Image: Group of Muslim female students visiting Galle Fort,July 2016(c)s.deshhapriya Statement: Let’s come together to support our sisters who have raised their voice for women’s rights and against discrimination. The constitutional reform process has initiated important discussions about legal reform. Among them is the need to better protect women’s rights and reform laws that discriminate […]

Issuing a statement “the transparency of the media secretary’s action regarding “Derana” is problematic, says the Free Media Movement in Sri Lanka. it says that ” FMM has lobbied many occasions, media can work freely without any government intervention and fear of losing the license, only through the establishment of an independent broadcasting authority as […]

Image: Roy Samathanam  courtesy of National Post. Stewart Bell. Roy Samathanam was handcuffed in painful positions, slapped, kicked, struck with rifles, beaten with pipes, threatened with death and told his wife would be arrested and raped unless he confessed. Peter J. Thompson/National Post TORONTO — A Toronto man who was imprisoned and tortured while visiting […]

The Budget 2017 was created by the elites for the elites, Jaffna based researcher, Ahilan Kadirgamar said stating that the trade and financial liberalization along with privatization propagated by this Budget will take the country towards financial doom. What is your overall view of the Budget? A: I am very concerned about this Budget because […]

Image: A poster of Rajapaksa era media suppression. Former president Rajapaksa who unleashed an unprecedented media suppression in Sri Lanka has issued  a press statement accusing present government of media suppression. Under Rajapaksa dozens of news websites were blocked, media institutions attacked, dozens of journalists were abducted and killed with total impunity. Rajapkasa regime controlled […]