Sri Lanka

2011

  

Sri Lanka’s savage smokescreen

Sri Lanka’s former attorney general Mohan Peiris, who is now the senior legal adviser to the cabinet and who many Sri Lankans say is aiming to become the next Supreme Court Chief Justice, has made conflicting statements about missing journalist Prageeth Eknelygoda. The discrepancies do more than point up the government’s indifference to Eknelygoda’s fate…

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Advice for colleagues on the digital front lines

If you’re running a website that’s come under attack, or is likely to, here is some advice on how to protect yourself. First, a little background: On Monday we filed an alert about the Sri Lankan government’s blocking of at least five websites there. The move silenced just about all of the country’s independent online…

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On 9/11 and post-conflict Sri Lanka

For a few years now, I have used Sugi Ganeshananthan’s articles as a frame of reference for CPJ advocacy in Sri Lanka. Ganeshananthan, a novelist and essayist who teaches at the University of Michigan, writes stories often grounded in current events. Her 2008 novel, Love Marriage, addresses the cultural and familial conflicts that Sri Lankans…

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Radio Netherlands reporters detail Sri Lanka harassment

Two journalists for Radio Netherlands Worldwide have gone public with their story of Sri Lankan government harassment, which ultimately drove them out of the country last week. The episode had been reported on a few Tamil websites, but I had been unable to confirm the story independently. 

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A promotional image for "On the Record," which opens this week at London's Arcola Theatre.

Journalists take stage: Q&A with ‘Record’ playwright

The true stories of journalists from Mexico, Sri Lanka, Russia, the United States, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories will hit the stage July 20 at London’s Arcola Theatre. “On the Record,” which runs through August 13, examines the careers of six journalists, the risks they face, and their determination to make an impact through their…

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Sri Lanka’s Groundviews back online after takedown

A note for the Sri Lanka watchers who visit CPJ.org regularly. Sanjana Hattotuwa, the founder of the citizen journalism website Groundviews messaged me this morning to say that the site is up and running again after suddenly going down within Sri Lanka over the weekend. Hattotuwa is the driving force behind the site, which is…

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Prageeth Eknelygoda's wife and sons are still seeking information on him. (CPJ)

BBC coverage of Prageeth Eknelygoda’s disappearance

A short follow-up to yesterday’s alert about Sandhya Eknelygoda–“Sri Lankan journalist missing for 500 days”–and her attempts to get assistance from anyone in the Sri Lankan government or at the United Nations to help her learn more about the disappearance of her husband, Prageeth. The BBC’s Colombo correspondent Charles Haviland produced a story about Eknelygoda…

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Sri Lanka: Ode to a detainee

On May 18, we posted about the stirring letter Sandhya Eknelygoda, wife of detained journalist Prageeth Eknelygoda sent to Sri Lanka’s First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. Check out the link: In Sri Lanka, a mother’s plea to the first lady.

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Video: ‘Living in silence: Journalists in exile’

We write a lot at CPJ about the terrible things that happen to journalists because of their reporting, but we don’t often get a chance to show you what happens to them after they are forced to flee their homes and land abroad. This video, about three such journalists, is worth watching.

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Prageeth Eknelygoda's wife and sons are still seeking information on him. (CPJ)

In Sri Lanka, a mother’s plea to the first lady

As Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa launches a domestic media campaign against U.N. allegations of war crimes since the May 2009 ceasefire, the plight of Sandhya Eknelygoda continues.

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2011