Media urged by the Govt. to 'censor embarrasing reports', says RSF

Paris based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says that the government has put pressure on the owners and the editors of independent dailies including The Nation and The Daily Mirror to censor “critical or embarrassing” articles.

A European Commission trade delegation was in Sri Lanka from 9 to 11 June.

The independent newspapers were urged by the government to avoid critical articles, according to RSF.

Relations with the EU

"The government is mistaken if it thinks in can improve relations with the EU by using threats to silence the independent press," the RSF said in a statement on Thursday.

The government is mistaken if it thinks in can improve relations with the EU by using threats to silence the independent press RSF statement

The press freedom watchdog says the officials who pressured the independent media groups had threatened reprisals, including economic sanctions if their warning was not taken into consideration.

The EU delegation has raised serious concerns of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka after the three-day visit.

A senior official - Joao Aguiar Machado - said the EU might withhold an aid package worth a hundred million dollars if the human rights situation did not improve.

EU condemns rights situation

"We expressed our serious concerns with the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, as indicated by a range of sources including reports from United Nations rapporteurs," Deputy Director General for External Relations of the European Commission Joao Machado said in a statement.

	RSF says EU should condemn Govt's move to contain media

Human rights groups have accused the government of failing to control killings and disappearances since hostilities with the Tamil Tiger rebels intensified in 2005.

The RSF urged the EU to condemn the harassment of the media by the Sri Lanka government.

“We urge the European Commission to firmly condemn this latest case of harassment of the media, which was directly linked to the delegation's visit,” the statement added.

The Sri Lankan defence ministry has earlier called the journalists who cover military affairs as ‘traitors’.

SLBC chairman's death threats

The head of the state-run radio station, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) is, meanwhile, accused of threatening journalists with death.

Five media organisations on Thursday condemned threats posed by SLBC chairman, Hudson Samarasinghe, to journalist union leader Poddala Jayantha and BBC journalist Elmo Fernando.

The government is accused of failing to take action against those who abducted and brutally assaulted senior defence columnist, Keith Noyahr.

A journalist working for News First, P Devakumaran, was hacked to death in Jaffna earlier this month.

The defence ministry has extended the detention of Sunday Times columnist and editor of OutreachLK.com, JS Tissanayagam, who was arrested on 07 March, is still in custody.

The RSF has called on the authorities to immediately release Mr. Tissanayagam and Tamil writer V Jasikaran, who was also arrested on the same day.