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[FMM]

Sri Lankan authorities have extended “unofficial” censorship to hospitals and funeral parlours as losses mount after a major battle against Tamil rebels, a media rights group said Friday. The Free Media Movement (FMM) said the authorities had prevented photographers taking pictures of military casualties brought to hospitals following heavy fighting in the northern peninsula of Jaffna on Wednesday. The group said it was urging the government as well as the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to respect the right to information.

[Full Story]

[Reuters]

The appointment of a retired general to help run a Sri Lankan state television station is a sign of media militarisation not seen for decades, rights watchdogs said on Thursday. The government, engaged in a long-running war with Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the island, called the accusation a “fabricated lie” and said former army major-general Sunil Silva would help cure chronic management weaknesses at the station.

[Full Story]

[IFJ]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to uphold the legal rights of seven journalists who were taken in for questioning by Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) between March 6 and 8. The journalists were not permitted to notify their families of their whereabouts. The Free Media Movement (FMM), an IFJ affiliate, reported that some of the journalists, most of whom are associated with the news and features website www.outreachsl.com, were held incommunicado for hours.

[Full Story]

[IFJ]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is appalled at another attempt to intimidate journalists working for the state-owned television broadcaster Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) since a violent altercation at the SLRC offices was instigated by a government minister in December. According to the Free Media Movement (FMM), an IFJ affiliate, the Assistant Director of News Camera at SLRC, Priyal Ranjith Perera, was reportedly threatened at his home in Pitakotte by a gang of four men who attempted to attack him with a knife.

[Full Story]

[IFJ]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) unequivocally condemns actions by senior Sri Lankan police to intimidate, abuse and humiliate journalists who report in the public interest. The Free Media Movement (FMM), an IFJ affiliate, reports that a senior police officer, Inspector Mahesh Perera, abused and assaulted Sugath Dharmapriya, a news producer of Derana TV, who was reporting from the scene of a bomb blast in Colombo on February 23.

[Full Story]

[IFJ]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police, Victor Perera, to investigate cases of harassment of journalists by members of the police and the Civil Defence Committees (CDC) and to prohibit authorities’ interference in the professional duties of journalists. In a letter to Mr Perera today, the IFJ expressed grave concern about reports from its affiliate, the Free Media Movement (FMM), that several incidents involving attacks on journalists or abuse of the rights of journalists have been instigated by police and CDC members.

[Full Story]

[CPJ]

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s brazen public call yesterday to censor the media and reintroduce criminal defamation laws. The comments were published in a Sinhala-language interview by Sri Lanka’s largest weekly, Sunday Lankadeepa, according to Free Media Movement spokesman Sunanda Deshapriya and veteran Sri Lankan journalist Iqbal Athas. “If I have the power I will not allow any of these things to be written,” the minister said in reference to reporting on the military, according to the Free Media Movement translation.

[Full Story]

[IFJ]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on Sri Lanka’s Government and its President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to take urgent action to protect the safety of journalists and uphold the rights of the media to report on issues of public interest. A serious deterioration in the press freedom environment and safety of journalists in Sri Lanka since January 2, when the Government formally withdrew from a ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is of grave concern to the IFJ and its local affiliates, the Free Media Movement (FMM), the Sri Lankan Working Journalists’ Association (SLWJA) and the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union (FMETU).

[Full Story]