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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000144 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS (BILLINGSLEY) AND DRL/NESCA (MIKOSZ) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PTER SCUL CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: SURGE IN VIOLENCE AND INTIMIDATION 
AGAINST FREE MEDIA 
 
REF: 07 COLOMBO 1489 (AND PREVIOUS) 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Intimidation and attacks on the media in 
Sri Lanka have risen sharply since the beginning of the year. 
 The International Federation of Journalists ranked Sri Lanka 
as the fifth deadliest country for journalists based on 2007 
incidents that included six recorded deaths.  January 
portends even worse for 2008: press organizations report that 
in January at least three journalists were attacked with 
knives, journalists' cars have been rammed and attempts made 
to run them off the road, and at least six journalists 
received death threats.  The Free Media Movement reported 
that police tried to abduct the General Secretary of the Sri 
Lankan Journalists' Association.  Statements by senior Sri 
Lankan officials encourage the trend toward censorship and 
intimidation: Army Commander Sarath Fonseka labeled sections 
of the media and journalists "traitors" in an interview 
published on January 2.  In a January 27 interview with a 
Sinhalese nationalist daily, Defense Secretary Gothabaya 
Rajapaksa reportedly stated, "journalists should not be 
allowed to write about military matters."  The International 
Federation of Journalists and other international 
organizations have issued strong statements on the situation. 
 The Ambassador expressed concern about Sri Lanka's worsening 
environment for press freedom in a February 1 meeting with 
the Foreign Secretary.  End Summary. 
 
THREATS AND ATTACKS AGAINST MEDIA MULTIPLY IN JANUARY 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The media freedom environment in Sri Lanka 
continues to deteriorate, with press organizations reporting 
dozens of attacks and threats against journalists in January. 
 Journalists and other observers claim that the attacks are 
organized, sanctioned, and in some cases carried out by 
members of the government and the police.  In other cases, 
they say, the police have not responded to complaints 
journalists have filed with them, citing one recent case of 
police refusing to act even when the victim knew the identity 
of the attackers. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Public statements by senior leaders are stoking the 
fires:  Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka 
accused sections of the media of "treachery" in a January 2 
interview.  Defense Secretary (and brother of the president) 
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa called for media censorship, the judicial 
enforcement of criminal defamation and the prosecution of two 
specific media outlets for "critical reportage" in a January 
27 interview.  "Journalists should not be allowed to write 
about military matters.  Strong action ought to be taken 
against those who do.  We should return to the laws that 
criminalize defamation in order to punish those who try to 
murder us," he was quoted.   Government websites also 
complain about "sordid media operations."  The Media Center 
for National Security warned on Jan. 19 that "rumors, 
including SMS text messaging, regarding the war situation 
will be dealt with severely."  Social Welfare Minister 
Douglas Devananda (also head of the pro-government EPDP armed 
paramilitary) accused Tamil television personality Sri Ranga 
Jeyaratnam of working on behest of the LTTE and publicly 
called on police to investigate this "traitor." 
 
STATE TV EMPLOYEES TURN TABLES ON POLITICAL THUG 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) A number of the January offenses appear to be 
related to the December 27 raid by Deputy Labor Minister 
Mervyn Silva into the offices of the state-controlled 
television station Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC). 
Silva was reportedly upset because the station opted not to 
air an obscene, defamatory speech he had given.  In that 
incident, Silva ordered the men with him to beat up the 
Channel's news director, who has since been transferred from 
 
COLOMBO 00000144  002 OF 003 
 
 
his post.  Outraged employees of the state-run television 
then surrounded Silva and his henchmen, cornering them for 
hours until elite police until were able to free them.  In 
the aftermath, SLRC journalist Lal Hemantha Mawalage, was run 
down and severely stabbed on January 25.  He told police he 
received death threats subsequent to the December 27 
incident, and his car had been rammed three days prior to the 
knife attack.  Three other senior media personnel of the MTV 
Channel, which covered the incident extensively, have also 
reported death threats in connection with Silva's attempted 
storming of the television station.  Rather than looking into 
Silva's invasion of the station, the Criminal Investigation 
Division has called in at least 21 SLRC journalists for 
questioning on the incident. 
 
"TRAITOR" LABEL USED TO STIFLE REPORTS ON COPRRUPTION 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In spite of some government officials' claims that 
the media are taking the side of the LTTE, many of the 
journalists who have suffered attacks have been covering 
corruption and transparency issues, reporting on such 
seemingly non-political topics as illegal sand mining.  The 
Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association and other groups 
have claimed that criminal gangs associated with Minister de 
Silva are responsible for several of the attacks.  Our media 
contacts have explained that often journalists will be 
accused of being unpatriotic and threatened with suits 
alleging they are revealing state secrets or aiding the enemy 
in order to "encourage" them not to cover individual cases of 
corruption. 
 
TAMIL MEDIA IN JAFFNA UNDER ATTACK 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Journalists at Tamil language publications are at 
particular risk.  Suahib Kassim, the former Associate Editor 
of a state-controlled Tamil daily was stabbed on January 28 
at his home.  He had previously received death threats, and 
had been transferred from his position a few days before the 
attack.  The staff of the Tamil newspaper Uthayan in Jaffna 
have reported new threats.  As previously reported, Uthayan 
has probably suffered the most of any Sri Lankan media 
organization.  Two support staff were killed when the Uthayan 
office was attacked in May 2006.  A delivery man for the 
newspaper was killed in August 2006 while in a Uthayan 
vehicle.  Uthayan journalist Selvaraha Rajivaram was one of 
the six journalists killed in 2007. No one has been arrested 
for these attacks. The editor of Uthayan has reportedly not 
left the newspaper's office for more than a year for fear for 
being killed. 
 
GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN CELLPHONE MESSAGING SERVICE 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Media contacts also lamented the government's order 
to cellphone providers to block text-messaging services for 
six hours on Sri Lanka's February 4 Independence Day.  The 
government also shut down all cellphone service, voice and 
text, in the North and East.  The government claimed that the 
measure was for security purposes, but telecommunications 
experts pointed out that Sri Lanka's Telecommunications Act 
lays out procedures for such actions.  Among other 
process-related omissions, the government failed to inform 
the fee-paying public about the nature of the threat and how 
shutting off service was necessary to counter it. 
 
¶8.  (U) The International Federation of Journalists, the 
Overseas Press Club of America, Reporters Without Frontiers, 
Amnesty International, and other international associations 
have written to the President and issued statements 
condemning the spiral of press intimidation and the public 
vilification of journalists in Sri Lanka. 
 
COLOMBO 00000144  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: Ambassador raised U.S. concerns about the 
situation in a February 1 meeting with Foreign Secretary 
Palitha Kohona, and will continue to do so with senior GSL 
interlocutors.  Threats and violence against journalists are 
not new in Sri Lanka, but the spate of incidents in January 
represents a disturbing increase in violent and potentially 
fatal attacks against the media.  Inflammatory comments by 
senior political leaders tend to encourage the thugs who 
would harm journalists, indirectly provoking further 
violence.  In the wake of a number of bomb attacks in 
government-controlled areas of Sri Lanka in the lead-up to 
the February 4 Independence Day observances, it is likely 
that this government will continue to pressure the press. 
We will continue to deliver the message that Sri Lanka must 
respect media freedom, and that the recent actions and 
statements against journalists have done serious harm to the 
country's image abroad. 
BLAKE