Two of Sri Lanka’s Internet Service Providers – Dialog and Telecom – have illegally blocked Lanka E News to their customers. The chairman of the Telecommunication Reclamation Commission,(TRC) Anusha Palapita, stated that he has not given such orders to any internet service providers that he was unaware of this incident.
For further clarification we tried to contact the CEO of Dialog, Dr. Hansa Wijesuriya, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
We condemn the illegality of these companies which violate the peoples’ right to access truthful information. We also ask those who stand up for media freedom to stand against this illegal act.
Over the past week the president has spoken against web-media during two occasions. At one occasion he said that these “insults” are written by journalists who live in Sri Lanka and then uploaded from America and that it is a conspiracy.
The Dialog company is the main service provider for the defence ministry and Telecom is a semi-government company. The chairman of Telecom is a brother of one of the government ministers’.
LeN