Sri Lanka: Smear campaign and death threats against Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya

LKA 001 / 1011 / OBS 115

Smear campaign / Death threats

Sri Lanka

October 6, 2011

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation.

Brief description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the false allegations and death threats made against Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya, a human rights defender, press freedom campaigner and a journalist from Sri Lanka who was the Head of the Free Media Movement before going into exile in 2009[1].

According to the information received, on September 12, 2011, Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya attended a side event at the 18^th session of the UN Human Rights Council organised by the Sri Lankan Government. H.E. Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives, a number of Ministers and senior Government officials from Sri Lanka, as well as representatives from a number of diplomatic missions in Geneva, from international human rights organisations and some Sri Lankan human rights defenders participated in the event.                        Full Story>>>