RSF says no one should be immune from press criticism, "including president's family"

Paris based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says Sri Lanka authorities have blocked Lanka News Web after the website published a news item on the President's eldest son, Namal Rajapaksa.

The RSF has also condemned Namal Rajapaksa's alleged seizure of news media videos following an assault on him by displaced people in Menik Farm camp.

Government denies

"No one should be immune from press criticism, including members of the president's family," the RSF statement issued on Monday said.

We have not barred any website in Sri Lanka Media minister, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa

However, media minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa denied blocking the website.

“We have not barred any website in Sri Lanka,” he told BBC Sandeshaya.

Lanka News Web says the site was banned after it published an article saying that displaced people in Menik Farm camp attacked Namal Rajapaksa when he visited the camp recently.

Minister Yapa told BBC Sandeshaya that he was not aware of such an attack.

In the past, the government barred pro-LTTE website Tamilnet.

Tamilnet was blocked, the minister said, as it was supporting a terrorist organisation that was banned in Sri Lanka.