Tamil Journalist In Sri Lanka Gets 20 Years In Jail; Conviction Condemned Widely

J.S. Tissanayagam

The High Court in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo today found Tamil journalist J.S. Tissanayagam guilty under the island state’s anti-terrorism laws and sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment, drawing widespread criticism from the global community of free speech supporters. Tissanayagam was a prominent critic of the Sri Lankan government’s war against the Tamil Tigers. He has been convicted on three charges of conspiracy, breaking prevention of terrorism laws, and violating wide-ranging emergency regulations,” The Guardian reported. He was arrested last year and later charged with inciting violence in his articles in North Eastern Monthly.

The International Federation of Journalists condemned the sentence as “brutal and inhumane” and said Sri Lankan authorities were misusing anti-terror laws to silence peaceful critics. The ruling makes Tissainayagam one of a handful of journalists in the world to be convicted of terrorism for the content of their journalism, IFJ said in a statement.

In a statement on the World Press Freedom Day in May this year, US President barack Obama cited Tissanayagam as one of the three “emblematic examples” of the “distressing reality” of journalists “who face intimidation, censorship and arbitrary arrest for their professional work”.

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