{"id":132233,"date":"2024-03-19T05:04:17","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T05:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=132233"},"modified":"2024-03-19T05:04:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T05:04:17","slug":"sri-lankan-police-arrest-two-journalists-in-a-direct-attack-on-freedom-of-speech-by-wimal-perera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/sri-lankan-police-arrest-two-journalists-in-a-direct-attack-on-freedom-of-speech-by-wimal-perera\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan police arrest two journalists in a direct attack on freedom of speech – By Wimal Perera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sri Lankan police arrest two journalists in a direct attack on freedom of speech – By Wimal Perera<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Source :\u00a0wsws<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Lankan police arrested two journalists early this month on bogus allegations. The arrests are part of the Wickremesinghe government\u2019s escalating assault on freedom of speech and other democratic rights, including its Online Safety Act (OSA) to censor social media platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n

On March 5,\u00a0Ravana Lanka News Web Site<\/em>\u00a0editor G.P. Nissanka was arrested at his home in Pallebedda, 130 kilometres from Colombo, brought before a Fort Magistrate in Colombo and remanded until March 20. The website publishes articles about news generally available in the mainstream media.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the media reports, Nissanka was arrested following a complaint to the police by Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant General Vikum Liyanage. His detention is apparently related to a story claiming that the army commander\u2019s home kitchen had provided army cooks to a politician\u2019s residence.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bimal Ruhunage, Sri Lankan freelance journalist\u00a0[Photo by Bimal Ruhunage]<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On March 6, Bimal Ruhunage, a freelance journalist, was arrested by the police at his home in Kurunegala. His reportage has been published by\u00a0Hiru TV<\/em>,\u00a0Siyatha<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Newscenter,<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Boston Lanka<\/em>\u00a0website in the US. Ruhunage explained the circumstances of his arrest to the\u00a0World Socialist Web Site<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI received information that a mother had been coming to the [Kurunegala] bus stand with her two-year-old boy to try and find someone to adopt him because of her [economic] hardships. I learnt that she had come to the bus stand on Saturday [March 3] and so I went there and saw her seated on a chair outside the bus stand and near the police post there,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruhunage told the WSWS that he planned to interview the mother about her social circumstances but was prevented from doing so by the police. \u201cAs I was taking a video of the mother and child, a police officer came up to me and said I could not do any video recording. I told him that I was a journalist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Four days later, Ruhunage was arrested following a 6 a.m. police raid on his home. \u201cAbout 25 to 30 police came in three or four vehicles and surrounded my house as if an underworld gang leader was being arrested,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The police inspector in charge of the raid video-taped the arrest, despite the journalist opposing it. \u201cI was charged under section 341 of the Penal Code for obstructing police duties [on March 3]. If that was the case then they should have arrested me immediately, not four days later,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n