[AHRC]

A former minister of the government and a well-known lawyer, Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha, is quoted in Lankadissent (December 22), in an interview given earlier to Lakbima as saying: “I relinquished my ministerial position because I was not allowed to exercise my powers. I was the only minister without a secretary. Then, how could the work be done? The appointment of ministers is a hoax”. He also said, “Not only for me, it is also the same for the 109 ministers who are still there. The President has the powers. In short, most ministers do not have any say in the appointment of chairmen and directors to institutions. The situation is like that at 99 per cent of ministries…

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[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.

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[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.

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