Media groups in Sri Lanka yesterday accused the government of detaining a senior editor and shutting down his newspaper because the publication backed the losing opposition candidate in elections.
Press owners, editors and rights organizations issued a joint statement saying the closure of the pro-opposition Lanka weekly and the detention of Chandana Sirimalwatte was a “fatal blow to media freedom and democracy.”
“Promises made during the presidential campaign to defend press freedom and speed up the investigations into assassinations of journalists have evaporated within days,” the group said.
“The repression against journalists and media that does not obey government orders and express dissenting voices has now culminated in acts unleashed against the Lanka newspaper,” it said.
Sri Lankan authorities have not said why the paper was forced to close and its editor taken into custody.
However, the government, under criticism from international rights groups, yesterday withdrew an expulsion order against Swiss reporter Karin Wenger, who covered the island’s fiercely fought presidential election last week.
A government spokesman said that “wrong information” had led to Wenger, of Swiss Public Radio, being ordered to leave the country.
The department of information had accused her of damaging the image of Sri Lanka with “defamatory” reports.
A government minister also criticized Wenger for grilling the authorities on allegations of irregularities in Tuesday’s vote, which was comfortably won by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
International rights organizations accused the government of harassing independent journalists who it believed sided with defeated opposition candidate, former general Sarath Fonseka.
Meanwhile, Fonseka on Saturday vowed protests against what he said was his stolen victory and accused the government of removing his personal security as part of an “indirect assassination attempt.”
Fonseka lost the election by more than 1.8 million votes, in a poll that observers generally praised as well run despite a violent campaign period in which five people were killed.
“The [public] has the right to protest and they will do that. Protests are already coming,” Fonseka told reporters on Saturday. “I have become a political threat to them as I am the people’s president. People elected me and they robbed it from me.”
He said his security detail had been reduced to four police officers from 90 soldiers. On Friday, police commandoes raided Fonseka’s office and arrested 15 former military officers working for him.
“They are trying an indirect assassination attempt on me, trying to make me vulnerable,” he said.
The government has said Fonseka is now an ordinary retired army officer and not entitled to special treatment.
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