Hon. Lloyd Axworthy
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ottawa.

Dear Hon. Minister,
We wish to bring to your attention the following excerpt of a news item, which appeared in The Sunday Island (November 16, 1997) newspaper published in Colombo.

Death threats to Canada-based journalists
Lankan HC lodges complaint

The High Commission of Sri Lanka has lodged a formal complaint to the Canadian government about the LTTE terrorist organisation threatening the life and safety of journalists writing to Sri Lankan English newspapers from Canada.
The High Commission drew the attention of the Canadian government to the case of a senior journalist, D.B.S.Jeyaraj, who writes a regular political column to the Colombo based English daily 'The Island' from Toronto. This journalist has been receiving anonymous death threats for writing to 'The Island' and has been warned not to criticise the LTTE in a Colombo newspaper.
The High Commission also submitted a detailed dossier of articles appearing in some LTTE oriented Tamil newspapers published in Toronto vilifying Mr. Jeyaraj for his impartial journalism.
A list of alleged LTTE activists in Toronto who could be considered as suspects if and when Jeyaraj was harmed was also provided. An assurance was given that the Canadian government will take urgent action."

It is amusing to see the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Ottawa taking a holier than thou attitude to ask for the protection of a Sri Lankan journalist who, like 150,000 other Thamils, fled Sri Lanka and to seek political asylum in Canada, due to a well-founded fear of persecution by the Sri Lankan government. In fact Jeyaraj himself was arrested and kept in detention under Emergency Regulations by the Sri Lankan government, which now displays so much sudden affection and love for him. No doubt this affection and love is self-serving, hypocritical and politically inspired.

In this regard the Sri Lankan government itself has a sordid history as the worst violator of free speech and press freedom. This is all the more regrettable because in its election campaign, the People's Alliance (PA) made clear promises regarding commitment to press freedom. Indeed, the PA was propelled to power by the support extended by journalists in the Free Media Movement (FMM). But the honeymoon between the FMM and the government ended in 1995 when the government started hounding journalists. The facts are clear and let us enumerate them.

(1) Media personnel, both local and international, are prohibited from visiting North and East of Sri Lanka. Only conducted tours under the watchful eyes of the army are occasionally permitted on condition that the reporters will write "sunshine" stories for local and international propaganda. It is also meant to boost the sagging morale of the occupying Sinhala army.

(2) The Military regime heavily censors the only Thamil Newspaper "Uthayan" published in Jaffna. On 29th January 1997, the editor was interrogated and threatened by the Sri Lankan army for reporting an army massacre in which Sri Lankan soldiers gunned down 9 Thamil civilians. The military authorities in occupied Jaffna have threatened the Editor many times before. He was arrested and warned against publishing such incidents without the army's approval.

(3) On 26th July, 1996 Rohana Kumara, the editor of tabloid newspaper Satana, was arrested and charged by the police for putting posters demanding the resignation of Deputy Minister of Defense Anuruddha Ratwatte for the Mullaitivu debacle.

(4) On 15th October, 1997, Niresh Eliathamby, an Associated Press reporter was arrested and detained for over two hours by Sri Lankan Navy personnel despite the presentation of personal identification documents, including a national identity card, and displaying his Information Department Accreditation on his T-shirt. The reporter was denied requests for water to drink and to make a telephone call to verify his identity. At one point the interrogators threatened to blindfold him. Of course his detention had much to do with his ethnic origin which by itself is a crime in the eyes of the Sri Lankan law enforcement officers.

(5) On August 7, 1996 - The publisher of 'Siya Rata' was brutally assaulted by unknown assailants in Colombo.

(6) On September 16, 1996 - 'Lankadipa' photojournalist Sanjeewa Niroshan was brutally assaulted by PA thugs in the Fort Magistrate Court premises.

(7) Last year the Editor of 'Yukthiya', Sunanda Deshapiriya, a Sinhalese journalist and a prominent member of the Free Media Movement was mercilessly assaulted by the ruling party's thugs when he criticized the human rights aspects of the war. An attempt by the NGOs to hold a meeting at Bentota to campaign against such abuses was broken up by thugs unleashed by the government.

(8) The late Rita Sebastian was a female journalist and a short-story writer. Her short story collection, "The Night of the Black Bird," became the subject of a police inquiry, all because one of the short stories revolved around a love affair between a Tamil and a Sinhalese. All copies of the book were seized from the Times printing department and Rita was grilled by the police for suspected sympathies with the Thamil cause. That was in the wake of the trauma of July 1983. In another instance, a high police officer placed his revolver threateningly on the table before inquiry into an alleged anti-government report she had filed abroad. ('Hot Spring', May 96).

(9) On 6th January 1997 in a telephone interview on BBC World Service 'Outlook' Programme Presenter Babara Meyer asked BBC correspondent Flora Botsford, in Colombo about her narrow shave with the security forces. Flora Botsford replied as follows: " There are no direct threats against me. On the other hand and I won't go into details … when I was offered an exclusive interview, recently, with some one from the rebel side, it was made clear that if I interviewed this person, if I traveled to interview this person, my life would be a misery when I got back, I might even have to leave the country."

(10) On April 8, 1996, the News Editor of a private broadcaster, MTV, was charged for wrongly reporting the imposition of a curfew, when only a state of emergency had been declared. The offending item was a mistranslation and the station made repeated apologies. Nevertheless, MTV was closed for a period, until the Free Media Movement persuaded the Government to relent.

(11) On New Year's Eve (1996), the News Director of the independent TV network (TNL) was detained under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), an Act which the Sri Lanka Freedom Party - now leading the ruling coalition PA -described it as draconian and pledged to repeal it. The arrest of Ishini Wickramasighe led fellow journalists to demonstrate for an end to intimidation. She was charged with being responsible for the allegedly incorrect news broadcast regarding an attack by Thamil Tiger rebels on a police post in Eastern Sri Lanka. It appeared that although the substance of the report was factually correct, it didn't actually use the words provided by the military officials.

(12) On 29 November 1997, two correspondents and a photographer from the Thamil daily 'Virakesari' newspaper went to cover the transfer of 223 Thamil political prisoners from the New Magazine prison to Kalutura prison. A request for permission to the police to enter the prison and see the prisoners was denied to them. The photographer took pictures of prisoners who were being transferred to Kalutara and the wailing relatives who had come to visit them. On seeing this a Police Officer snatched the camera from the photographer and took out the film rolls inside. The trio complained to a senior Police Officer who justified the seizure of the films on grounds of national security!

(13) Iqbal Athas, Defence correspondent of the 'Sunday Times' newspaper, and his family have been the target of death and kidnap threats. Referring to a long-standing pattern of harassment and intimidation directed against Iqbal Athas for his criticism of Sri Lankan army operations and corruption involved in procurement of arms in articles published in the Sunday Times in July 1997; the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote " He was subjected to surveillance by the criminal investigation department and the Police. CPJ sent a letter to you in July 24, urging your government to conduct a thorough investigation and to take appropriate action against all parties responsible for harassing Athas.

" As a non-partisan organization working to defend the rights of journalists worldwide, CPJ fears that Iqbal Athas is again being intimidated and harassed as a result of his work as a journalist. We fear that such intimidation may legitimize harassment against other journalists in Sri Lanka, especially those attempting to cover military affairs and separatist rebellion."

We are not aware of any action your government may have taken on this matter.

(14) Article 19, the London Based International Centre Against Censorship, has protested to President Chandrika Kumaratunga regarding "concerted official campaign to denigrate one of Sri Lanka's most respected journalists, Iqbal Athas, the Defense Correspondent of the Sunday Times, apparently with the intention of intimidating him from continuing to pursue his profession as an investigative reporter." The letter continued, "…. the intention behind this barrage of reporting appears to be to brand Mr. Athas as a "collaborator" with the LTTE, on the grounds that the LTTE monitored his weekly column… Indeed, we understand that both the Deputy Minister of Defense and the Commander of the Air Force also accused Mr. Athas of being a "traitor" and " a LTTE acolyte."

(15) The Editor of 'Sunday Times', Mr. Ranatunga, was charged under the criminal law, not under the normal civil law, for defamation as a result of a gossip column about President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The Editor was given a suspended 12-month sentence and a fine of Rs.10, 000. No civilized system of law would prosecute for criminal defamation against journalists.

(16) On January 3, 1998, on the pretext of security check, 30 soldiers raided the house of the Sri Lanka correspondent of 'Indian Express' newspaper. The soldiers went through the correspondent's books and papers, including press statements from the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE). This was the second raid on an Indian journalist in recent weeks. Last month security forces raided the hotel room of Ms. Nirupa Subramaniam, of the 'Deacan Herald' newspaper. The correspondent was on an assignment in Sri Lanka and had visited the former LTTE stronghold of Jaffna. New Delhi has protested to Sri Lanka over the latest army raid. "If these reports keep coming out in Indian newspapers it is not good for friendly relations between the two countries," an Official of the Indian High Commission in Colombo said.

While we welcome all efforts to safeguard Mr. D.B.S. Jeyaraj's right to free expression, which he already enjoys in great abundance in a free and democratic society like Canada, we categorically deny any threat to his life or safety by our members. But we would like to know how the Sri Lankan High Commissioner was able to collect the names of those who were perceived to pose a threat to Jeyaraj? Is the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Ottawa permitted to spy on Thamil Canadians?

Only last month the Foreign Ministry expelled two Indonesian security personnel for spying on Indonesians demonstrating against President Suharto in Vancouver. We would like to be assured that Sri Lanka's state terrorism does not spread its tentacles here and terrorize those Thamils who fled Sri Lankan government's persecution. We will be glad to have an answer from the Hon. Minister as early as possible.

Yours truly,

Veluppillai Thangavelu

President FACT