Impunity

  Sri Lanka has encountered a second security failure by allowing the unruly violent mobs to attack Muslim mosques and ordinary Muslim citizens particularly in the North Western Province and Gampaha District. This should have been an ‘anticipated backlash’ to the Easter Carnage inflicted by the IS terrorists three weeks before. However neither the law […]

There is a special kind of atavistic horror when terrorists attack places of worship. These strikes aim at decimating not only the life and limb of innocents but also destroying a community’s faith and spirituality, the very qualities that distinguish human beings from barbarians. As bombs ripped through churches and top end hotels on Easter […]

Since we are also currently discussing the head of expenditure for the Supreme Court, I wish to raise a few points. Last month when we had a debate in Parliament, there were members from both sides who said ‘the Supreme Court is independent now – see how they ruled in November and December’. Therefore, they […]

Image : (c) S.Deshapriya. REMARKS BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE OCCASION OF THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GENEVA ASSOCIATION OF UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENTS. (25 February 2019/ Geneva) Your excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, Dear journalists, It is an honour and pleasure to be back here with you today to mark the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Association […]

(Sunday Observer 17 Feb 2019) Right wing politicians have taken up cudgels against Navy officials testifying against senior rankers implicated in an abduction for ransom racket in 2008-2009. Investigators worry the campaign of intimidation could hamper the probe and deter key witnesses from coming forward In 2012, Naval Intelligence officer Lieutenant Commander Krishan Welagedara became […]

Image: Two businessmen ( SLM) Two businessmen  Manjula Asanka and Raseen Chinthaka from  from  Boossa, Galle district  has been abducted b the police and they have  tortured and killed Sri Lanka media reports. ;ater their bodies have been burned.  Sinhala weekly Ravaya reports  a group of Southern Province police officers were involved in this murder, according to […]

Image: Protest against the assault on Upali Tennakoon was held in Colombo immediately after the incident. “I have no wish to return since the individuals who I believe to be responsible are still in positions of power…” Upali Tennakoon (courtesy) When former editor Upali Tennakoon speculates about what led to the attempt on his life […]

In a letter to Ms. Hanaa Singer, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations, Sri Lanka, media organistations says that ” We do not want the assurances of the United Nations. We want it to take and compel action. The undersigned believe it is essential for the UN to persist in pressuring the Sri Lankan government to take accountability […]

From Colombo to Giritale to Akkaraipattu, CID sleuths have pieced together the abduction of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda on January 24, 2010 and linked it to a shadowy military intelligence unit operating out of the Giritale Army camp. But four years after the investigation began, the case has hit a wall, with the military refusing to […]

Image: From a protest poster of press freedom organisations, Sri Lanka during the Rajapaksa era. 19 November 2018./AI. Responding to the transfer of Nishantha Silva, Officer-in-Charge at the Criminal Investigations Department and key investigator in high-profile human rights cases, Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher, Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, said: “We are concerned about the seeming interference by […]

The violation of the language rights following the enactment of Official Languages Act No. 33 of 1956, started the process of human rights violations of the Tamils of Sri Lanka which eventually led to the pogroms against them in 1958, 1977, 1983 and the massacres of 2008 -2009. 71 onwards To understand the upsurge of impunity and disappearances […]

Image: Selvarani Sahadevan wants her son’s killers brought to justice but has received little encouragement in the 11 years since he died. (Photo by Niranjani Roland/ucanews.com).  Sahadevan Niluckshan was among many Tamil media workers who lost their lives during the island’s brutal civil war. Niranjani Roland, Jaffna , Sri Lanka April 9, 2018 Selvarani Sahadevan is still seeking justice for her […]

The Joint Opposition (JO) has alleged that the recent arrest of former Army Chief of Staff and head of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) Maj. Gen. Amal Karunasekera over his alleged involvement in the abduction and assault on The Nation Deputy Editor Keith Noyahr was connected to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) agreement with the UNP […]

Image: Sri Lanka Muslims in Kandy praying in open space as their Mosque has been set on fire by Sinhala Buddhist mobs. On March 6 2018, Parliament took up an adjournment motion on the issue of the recent violence taking place in Ampara and later, Digana. Speaking after Minister Rauf Hakeem, I agreed with many […]

There have been two incidents, Sir, that have occurred recently: one in Ampara a few days ago and the other one, more recently, in Kandy. The incident in Ampara occurred consequent to a suspicion pertaining to some activities in an eating house. If what is being said had happened in that eating house, I think, […]

Image: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at a seminar on the safety of journalists in Colombo in December 2017. Despite Sri Lanka’s commitments to address impunity, no justice has been secured in the cases of 10 murdered journalists. (AFP/Ishara S. Kodikara) By Steven Butler/CPJ Asia Program Coordinator . It was the police line-up from hell. Forget all those “Law […]

By Mangla Samaraweera. 8 January 2018, marks the ninth anniversary of one of the most heinous crimes ever committed against Sri Lanka’s constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression. It was nine years ago, today, at 10:45 a.m. that I received the news that Lasantha Wickrematunge, the fearless editor of The Sunday Leader, and my […]

A correspondent for the Lankadeepa newspaper has lodged a complaint at the Moratuwa Police that she was allegedly obstructed from carrying out her duties by police and court officials when she went to report on the escape of a prisoner from the holding cell of the Moratuwa Magistrate’s Court. Reka Tharangani Fonseka in her complaint […]

Image: Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera addressing the UNESCO conference (Credit: Samarawwera Face Book) Sri Lanka Miniter Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera has publicly accepted that the Sri Lanka government had long way to go to end impunity for crimes against journalists. He has said this in a tweet […]

According to reliable information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission, eighteen young girls in the Dehiwala Orphanage in Colombo District have been sexually abused by a male employee. After receiving the information, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) of Sri Lanka had taken steps to force entry into the Orphanage and arrest the suspect. […]

Image: In this Monday, Jan. 23, 2017 photo, Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of disappeared journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, turns pages of their wedding album while speaking to the Associated Press at her residence in Homagama, on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Hope is fading fast for the families of journalists who were killed or disappeared during […]

By Mangala Samaraweera. Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera says that ” Today Sri Lanka has  a choice between impunity, conflict, corruption, extremism and poverty, or the rule of law, accountability, equality, multiculturalism, openness and trade. We have a choice between conflict and poverty, versus peace and prosperity.” He has said that speaking at a  […]

The need for the reform of state institutions to suit post-war conditions has become highlighted by a pattern of recent incidents. During the past year the rise of inter-religious tensions particularly in the North and East was marked, with an increase in hate speech, acts of physical violence and illegal constructions. Those who engaged in […]

Image: Ranil Wickremesinghe and Malik Samarawickrama; Daily FT photo. Ravi Ladduwahetty. Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. – Former US President Abraham Lincoln. As the Ceylon Today Sunday Edition reported in its lead story, now the latest is that the government […]

Image: Outspoken journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge (L) who predicted his own murdear is the highest profile victim of press violations in Sri Lanka, while justice remains to be served in the 2010 case involving the disappearence of political cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda. By Gouri Sharma. Earlier this month, a judge released two suspects who were being held […]

(Shooting together at impunity) by  Tisaranee Gunasekara. In the myth, hero-king becomes a tyrant when he turns his back on the source of his power. In the myth, the source of that power is divine, god/gods, who proceed to punish the king for his transgression.The myth depicts a timeless human phenomenon. The only difference is […]

[Families of the disappeared has been on the street for a long time campaigning for justice (c) sunanda deshapriya, Aug 2016] Enforced disappearance of persons remains one of the widely known human rights violations in Sri Lanka. The war that ended in May 2009 took the figure of the alleged abductions and disappearances to alarming […]

( Original photo from Vikalpa.org) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Hundreds of journalists and media rights activists protested on Friday to demand Sri Lanka’s new government start a fresh investigation into the abduction and killing of a prominent ethnic Tamil journalist 11 years ago, during the country’s civil war. Those demonstrating in front of Colombo’s […]

(Memorial service to mark the seventh death anniversary of Lasantha Wickrematunge) Military implicated in five key assassinations during former regime. AG under pressure by military and defence establishment to stop cases. As January 8, 2016 marked the first anniversary of the establishment of the yahapalanaya form of good governance, it was evident that the government […]

By C. A. Chandraprema. Speaking during the committee stage debate on the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that a compensation plan would be implemented for 44 media persons who were killed due to political reasons under the former regime. He said that President Maithripala […]