Freedom of expression

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is going into another presidential election in a few weeks with unresolved human rights issues and undelivered promises in hand. The Executive Presidency continues unabolished despite repeated promises of the presidential candidates who came to power in the last 25 years. Though the 19th Amendment to the Constitution trimmed the powers […]

September 10, 2019/Media Statement. The Free Media Movement vehemently condemns the takeover of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation to be placed under the Ministry of Defense using presidential powers. The takeover is even more worrying and critical since we are in a context where there are preparations for an election. The Free Media Movement is extremely […]

The state-run Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) was brought under the purview of the Ministry of Defence yesterday evening (9). A gazette notification signed by President Maithripala Sirisena, who also holds the Defence portfolio, was issued a short while ago announcing the takeover. Veteran media personality Kalum Palitha Maheeratne was appointed SLRC Chairman on 6 […]

In a few months’ time this country will once again make decisions on the political leadership that will guide the destinies of the nation. This is a pivotal point in regard to the direction and manner in which our country will develop in the near future. 1. CONTEXT We must recognise the reality that we […]

Images of the Hindu Deity Krishna mistaken for Buddha images. By Arjuna Ranawana. Women’s activists are angry and exasperated by police detaining women wearing sarees or dresses with the images of Hindu Deities on them. Activists say there has been a rash of such incidents recently. Some of the images, particularly of the Hindu deity […]

Attorneys for SLPP presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa have sought, in a fresh filing in the California Central District Court, to dismiss a lawsuit brought against him alleging his culpability in the January 2009 torture and extrajudicial killing of Lasantha Wickrematunge. The new filing asserts, while denying the allegation that he had a hand in the […]

Image: MP S. Shritharan. Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) lawmaker S. Shritharan yesterday raised a privilege issue with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya highlighting the recent raiding of his house in Kilinochchi by Police and the Terrorist Investigations Unit (TID) with the assistance of the Army in search of explosives. According to the lawmaker, he and his […]

Media Release /2019-08-12 . The Free Media Movement (FMM), which has been working towards media access to Parliamentary Committee proceedings, greatly appreciates the opening of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) proceedings to the media which is a timely initiative and a historically important step. The Free Media Movement from the very inception has been […]

In Sri Lanka, injustice takes manifestly queer twists and turns. A State signs an international convention on the solemn understanding that it will conform to those obligations. It passes a Constitution or enacts a law consequent to a pact entered into with citizens promising that narrow interests of one specific power bloc or agitators will […]

Attorney General Dappula de Livera PC has requested the Chief Justice to nominate a three member Trial-at-Bar to hear the case involving the abduction and murder of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. The Co-ordinating Officer to the Attorney General, State Counsel Ms. Nishara Jayaratne told news media that the Attorney General has already prepared indictments to be […]

(August 09th, 2019/Media Release) Freedom Media Movement vehemently condemns the threat to journalist K. Prasanna by Palani Digambaram, Minister of Minister of Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development, in connection to an article titled ‘Does the Indian Housing Scheme provide fund the Minister’s food?’ written by journalist K. Prasanna using Right to Information […]

07th August 2019 M. S. P. Ekneligoda No. 136/2, Suhada Mawatha, Hiripitiya, Pannipitiya. Mr. Dappula De Livera, PC Hon. Attorney General, Attorney General’s Department, Colombo 12. Request with regard to Prageeth Ekneligoda Case  Honourable Sir, Facts and evidence of the case mentioned above bearing case number B7417/10, which is being heard in the Homagama Magistrate’s Court, were filed by Homagama […]

Image: Sri Lankan chief editor of the privately-owned Rivira weekly Upali Tennakoon (L) is rushed to the Colombo national hospital after he was attacked in 2009 (AFP Photo/Ishara S. KODIKARA) (AFP) Sri Lanka on Wednesday charged two army spies for a decade-old serious assault of a newspaper editor in the wake of the shock assassination of […]

By Rehab Mahamoor/August 07, 2019. Sri Lanka is no stranger to arbitrary laws that are prone to misuse. For the past 40 years, it has had the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act on the statute books, which has been used to target minorities and is one of the main drivers of human rights violations – including the suppression […]

After visiting Shakthika Sathkumara in prison, I sat down to write about this writer who should never have spent a single day behind bars, let alone four months, for a short story he wrote. Then I reconsidered. Self-censorship — that is the real enemy of freedom of expression and that is what governments and other […]

Image: Keith Noyahr not willing to come to Sri Lanka in person to identify his  abductors. Senior State Counsel Lakmini Girihagama appearing on behalf of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) informed the Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate that former Nation Deputy Editor Keith Noyahr has agreed to an identification parade via video technology. Girihagama made this remark […]

Image: Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Peaceful Assembly and Association, delivers his End of Mission statement at the Media Briefing in Colombo. GENEVA / COLOMBO (26 July 2019) — The people of Sri Lanka must act together to secure democracy, human rights and the rule of law, says the UN […]

Issuing a press statement the Free Media Movement of Sri Lanka expresses its concern that a Muslim journalist has been barred from covering an event at one of the leading Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, the Asiriya viharaya, in Kandy. FMM emphasises that it is especially the responsibility of the relevant authorities to ensure a conducive […]

SPECIAL STATEMENT BY HON. TILAK MARAPANA, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN PARLIAMENT – 25.07.19 It has been brought to my notice that last Tuesday (23 July) and Wednesday (24 July) several Members of the Parliament have brought up the issue of the visit of the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of assembly and of association, […]

By Skandha Gunasekara. Investigations have uncovered links between controversial military intelligence officer Major Prabhath Bulathwatte and a spate of attacks on journalists prior to 2015, sources at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) told The Sunday Morning. CID sources said that all new information uncovered through investigations has now been submitted to courts. CID sources added […]

  In April this year, Ahimsa Wickrematunge filed a lawsuit against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the District Court of Central California, alleging his involvement in her father Lasantha Wickrematunge’s 2009 assassination. In response, on 27 June, a petition was filed on behalf of Rajapaksa before the District Court, requesting a dismissal of Ahimsa […]

Image: Upali thennaloon soon after the attack, January 23, 2009. (AP photo) Investigators have made a major breakthrough on the probe into the assault on former Editor Upali Tennakoon and are set to arrest a key suspect, The Sunday Morning learnt. Fingerprints found on Tennakoon’s vehicle on the day of the assault have been linked to […]

Image: Sri Lankan security officers inspect vandalized shops owned by Muslims in Minuwangoda, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, May 14, 2019.  © 2019 AP Photo/Chamila Karunarathne (New York) – Authorities in Sri Lanka should end arbitrary arrests and other abuses against Muslims and appropriately protect the community from violence, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the Easter […]

Image:Fr Ashok Stephen (FA) delivering his speech at HRC 41. Franciscans International, International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) welcome the Oral update of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. We join her in expressing condolences to survivors, victims’ families and communities […]

Image; Shakthika Sathkumara When protective laws turn offensive -Tharumalee Silva. Even though we cannot declare Ardha a successful short story, Sathkumara’s arrest threatens writers and artists’ right to freedom of expression. Furthermore, if he was in the wrong, he should’ve been tried under the Penal Code rather than under the ICCPR Act – Writers’ Organisation […]

Image: President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Asgiriya Chapter temple in Kandy, to open a new Pirivena building on the premises in 2009 (File photo) It is generally assumed we have passed the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, the industrial age and the space age. After a breathtaking dive in to the digital age, […]

In a letter to the Minister of Justice and Prison Reforms, the Free Media Movement has expressed its concern that the given current context the proposed legal amendments related to false news distribution and hate speech could seriously threaten the freedom of expression and media freedom in the country. T The letter follows: June 17, […]

2019 June 16/ Media Release. The Free Media Movement strongly condemns the attempts to pursue legal action under the provisions of the INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (ICCPR) ACT No 56. of 2007 and urges all responsible stakeholders to draw their attention to avoid using the law unfairly. Kusal Perera, has been engaged in journalism for a […]

We live in an age when everything is instant. Instant coffee, instant noodles, instant information and most importantly, Instagram. Entertaining content and sensationalized news makes for a more interesting news feed. While gossip goes viral in an instant, unbiased and neutral news items lag far behind. Truth and legitimacy are not fun for a generation […]

Social media has revolutionized society. With creative and improved means of communication, live updates become freely accessible, news is as close to you as the play button on your screen, images and messages circulate between millions of people around the world within seconds, and as a result people are now more instantly up to date, […]