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'Release detained journalists' HRW
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New York based human rights organisation Human Rights Watch [HRW] has issued a statement asking President Mahinda Rajapakse
to order prosecutors to drop all charges against journalists held on politically motivated charges.
Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the president on Friday, " J.S. Tissainayagam, a journalist, and N. Jashiharan, a publisher, and his wife, V. Valamathy, have been in detention since March 2008". The letter from the HRW identifies "serious violations of due process and the right to a fair trial by the authorities in Tissainayagam’s case". “Tissainayagam’s arrest was politically motivated and his detention has involved a litany of due process violations,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. systematic campaign to smother free media In the letter to the president HRW say, “The prosecution of journalists only reinforces the impression that the government has embarked on a systematic campaign to smother free media.” On friday another senior newspaper editor Upali Tennakoon was attacked by unknown assailants on his way to work. Media reports say, the President has instructed the IGP to appoint a special Police team to probe attacks on media, following the assault on Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon and his wife. |
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India's frustration with Sri Lanka over Tamils