A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, December 1, 2012
Sri
Lanka: Arbitrary Arrest of Human Rights Defender Mr Sanjeewa
Samarasinghe
Letter by William Gomes Salem-News.com-Nov-30-2012
As long as governments place restrictions on journalism, then
their problems will never even begin to change.
|
(SALEM) - If there is one thing that troubles reporters, it is
threat against and harming of, other media professionals.
Sri Lanka has a history of harassing, harming, threatening and
murdering journalists, to put it mildly.
In the time leading up to the massive
ethnic cleansing of Tamils that culminated in the deaths of tens of thousands in
the country's northern region from 2006 to 2009, Journalist deaths and
disappearances became commonplace.
Sadly, the problem has never gone away.
As long as governments place restrictions on journalism, then their
problems will never even begin to change.
Among other points raised, our Human Rights Ambassador, William
Nicholas Gomes, asks Sri Lankan President Majinda Rajapaksa to mmediately launch
an investigation into the arbitrary arrest and questioning of human rights
defender Sanjeewa Samarasinghe. He urges that the country take disciplinary
action where necessary, as it is believed that the arrest was solely motivated
by his legitimate and peaceful human rights activities...
“ |
Office of the President Republic Square, Colombo 01, Sri Lanka. Your Excellency, I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com.
I came to know about the situation
from Front Line Defenders.
On 27 November 2012, human rights
defender Mr Sanjeewa Samarasinghe was taken into custody by the Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) and questioned for 13 hours without a reason
given or a lawyer present, before being released. Sanjeewa Samarasinghe is a
journalist and the chairman of the State Media Workers’ Association, which
defends press freedom and the rights of media workers in Sri Lanka.
Sanjeewa Samarasinghe was at home on
27 November when around 5.15pm, six plainclothes policemen came to his house in
Ragama. The operation was reportedly led by Inspector of Police Mr SP
Abayasekara of the CID. The defender was told to accompany the policemen to the
CID office to record a statement, but no reason was given for the arrest or the
questioning, which is illegal under Sri Lankan law as court approval is
necessary for any arrest carried out after 5pm.
The human rights defender was taken to
the CID office in Colombo 1 with a friend present, although his friend was told
to leave the interrogation after 15 minutes. The defender asked the police
officers to wait for his lawyer to arrive before questioning him, but this
request was ignored and the police proceeded to question him in the absence of
his lawyer. The defender’s lawyer was not permitted to enter the CID premises
for the entire duration of the interrogation.
It is reported that Sanjeewa
Samarasinghe was subsequently questioned throughout the night for a period of 13
hours until he was eventually released around 9.30am the following morning on 28
November. Although no reason was given for the arrest, he was reportedly asked
during the questioning whether he had been supplying information on human rights
violations in Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Sanjeewa Samarasinghe works as a
journalist and leads the State Media Workers’ Association, which works on issues
related to media freedom, the right to freedom of expression, and which holds
conferences, campaigns, and demonstrations on the rights of media workers.
I urge the authorities in Sri Lanka
to:
1. Immediately initiate an
investigation into the arbitrary arrest and questioning of human rights defender
Sanjeewa Samarasinghe, taking disciplinary action where necessary, as it is
believed that the arrest was solely motivated by his legitimate and peaceful
human rights activities;
2. Guarantee under all circumstances
that human rights defenders in Sri Lanka are able to carry out their legitimate
human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions
including judicial harassment.
Sincerely William Nicholas Gomes Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com www.williamgomes.org |