His sentence was the harshest given to a Sri Lankan journalist

Jeyaprakash Tissainayagam edited the North Eastern Monthly magazine and had written about the effect of the decades-long separatist conflict in Sri Lanka on the ethnic Tamil minority.

The External Affairs Minister, prof GL Peiris, said the pardon had been timed to coincide with World Press Freedom Day.

Mr Tissainayagam's sentence had been criticised by the United States and European Union.

US President Barack Obama singled out Mr Tissainayagam's case in his World Press Freedom Day address last year as an example of journalists being imprisoned for doing their jobs.

Harsh sentence

In January, Mr Tissainayagam was freed on bail, pending a full appeal hearing.

He had appealed against his conviction in August last year on charges of raising money for terrorism and causing racial hatred.

Mr Tissainayagam edited the North-Eastern Monthly magazine. He was arrested in March 2008, accused of conspiring to cause ethnic violence through his articles.

The journalist had denied the charges, saying he did not believe in violence.

Mr Tissainayagam's sentence was the harshest given to a Sri Lankan journalist in recent years.

In May 2008 Sri Lanka defeated Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority.

It is estimated that more than 70,000 people were killed during the 26-year conflict.