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Govt. abuses legislation says HRW | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Sri Lankan government is abusing anti-terrorism legislation to clamp down on journalists who expose human rights abuses,says Human Rights Watch (HRW). The New York based human rights group, HRW also says anti-terrorism laws are used against journalists who expose , official corruption, or otherwise question the government’s handling of the civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). HRW in a statement on Thursday said Standard Newspapers Ltd., which publishes weekly Mawbima newspaper and the English-language weekly Sunday Standard, stopped operations on March 29. Sixteen days earlier, the government froze the company’s assets, citing suspected links to the LTTE, HRW said On September 20 the Ministry of Defense sent a letter to media institutions requesting that “news gathered should be subjected to clarification and confirmation.” The ministry has not instituted any formal censorship, however, both the president and his brother Gotabaya Rajapakse, the defense secretary, are known to call newspaper editors directly with complaints about their coverage. All sides in Sri Lanka’s civil war have interfered with and sought to restrict the exercise of free speech and freedom of the press, Human Rights Watch said. LTTE In the areas under its control, the LTTE does not allow a free press, HRW says in its statement. It says in other areas it has intimidated, attacked and sometimes killed journalists critical of their policies or actions. Karuna Group The Karuna group, which split from the LTTE in 2004 and has been fighting alongside the government, has also interfered with the media, Human Rights Watch said. Since August, in the areas where it operates in the East, the Karuna group has blocked the sale of the Tamil-language dailies Virakesari, Thinakkural and Sudar Oli, which are critical of the armed group, it said In Batticaloa district, the only Tamil-language papers available are the state-owned Thinakaran and Thinamurasu, which are run by the Eelam People’s Democratic Party, statement said. The Karuna group has issued death threats to newspaper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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India's frustration with Sri Lanka over Tamils