Reporters Without Borders urges the Sri Lankan authorities to take
all necessary measures to investigate threatening letters received
six days ago by Frederica Jansz and Munza Mushtaq, two journalists
who work for the Leader Publications media group. “We will slice you
up if you do not stop your writing,” the letters said.

At the same time, senior newspaper employees have been questioned by
the police about their sources in a new attack on editorial
independence.

“The police must treat these death threats written in red ink with
the utmost seriousness, especially as they were sent to two
journalists whose press group has repeatedly been the target of
physical violence,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We urge the
police to track down and arrest those who wrote these letters.”

The press freedom organisation added: “It is also vital that the
authorities order the security forces to put a stop to their
unwarranted summonses and arrests of journalists, and to register the
complaints submitted by journalists when they are physically
attacked.”

The editor-in-chief of the Sunday Leader newspaper, Jansz plans to go
police headquarters in Mount Lavinia (just to the south of Colombo)
on 27 October to file a complaint about the threatening letters (see
photo) that she and Mushtaq received on 22 October. The threats may
have been prompted by the newspaper’s coverage of a video showing
Sri Lankan soldiers executing unarmed men.

Jansz told Reporters Without Borders the letters were similar to
those received by Sunday Leader managing editor Lasantha
Wickrematunge three weeks before he was murdered in January 2009.
“We wrote to the police station describing the threats but the
police have not even contacted me (…) The Sunday Leader’s
publisher mentioned these persistent threats at a meeting with the
president a few months ago. The president told one of his aides to
follow up the matter, but since then there has been nothing.”

Jansz and Leader Publications are currently facing three complaints
brought by the president’s brother, defence secretary Gotabaya
Rajapaksa, one accusing her of contempt of court because she printed
a profile of him in the weekly after a judge ordered the press group
not to publish anything about him. The defence ministry’s website
has meanwhile accused the press group’s lawyers of being traitors
while another site linked to the ministry referred to some of
Jansz’s comments to foreign news media as “prostitution.”

In a separate case, Chandana Sirimalwatta, the editor of the
newspaper Lanka Irida, was detained and questioned by the Colombo
police on 17 October about his sources for an article about tension
between the president and the head of the armed forces, Gen. Sarath
Fonseka. The previous day, the police had gone to the newspaper’s
headquarters to arrest Sirimalwatta.

On 20 October, the government information office threatened to
“blacklist” online media that speculated about tension within the
government.

Ruling party activists meanwhile attacked journalists who were
accompanying opposition members on 4 October as they tried to
approach a “palatial residence” allegedly built by a member of the
president’s family with public funds. Five journalists were slightly
hurt. One of them told Reporters Without Borders that police at the
Matara police station refused to register his complaint.

A few days before that, three Lanka Irida reporters were arrested
near this residence on “terrorism charges”. They were later released
on bail but their equipment was confiscated.

———–
Vincent Brossel
Asia-Pacific Desk
Reporters Without Borders
33 1 44 83 84 70
asia@rsf.org