| The EelamEnews website, which functions from the United Kingdom, stated in the press release that their administrators were threatened before and after the attack by unknown callers and that this was reported to the UK Police, as well as to Reporters without Borders (RSF - Paris).
Similar attempts were reported on a few other Tamil websites. However, detailed information could not be obtained due to the fact that the anonymous callers threatened the websites, saying that if they reported these incidents to any international institutions or anyone else, their kith and kin in Sri Lanka would be harmed.
The EelamEnews press release further stated that “There is a concerted effort by the Sri Lankan government to silence media including websites supportive of the Tamils’ struggle for self-determination and reporting violations of human rights by the armed forces and the para-military............ A powerful section of the Sri Lanka government’s foreign element has carried out this attack on Eelam E-news”.
In recent days several articles and news items published in pro-government media in Sri Lanka and in foreign countries, loosely cited the name of “Interpol” to intimidate certain media workers, human rights activists and others working on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
One human rights activist in France told us that a few individuals are being intimidated, by being falsely described as wanted by Interpol. We do not know whether Interpol is aware that the Sri Lankan propagandists are using their name to intimidate anyone who reports on the situation in Sri Lanka. We know the function of Interpol and they have more important tasks than believing these false accusations against those who believe in the pen, paper and the tongue (voice). The people who are really wanted by Interpol are with the government and a few have been appointed as ambassadors! He further said ‘Dogs bark and the caravan moves on’.
Government intimidation of the media, media workers and human rights activists reveals how desperate they are that the truth is now reflecting in their international image.
Futher news items given below:
Tamil returned from London kidnapped, beaten up
Sri Lanka Mirror, Monday 14 February 2011 - A Tamil youth, who had returned from London, had been kidnapped, severely beaten up and dumped three days later.
According to reports, he is presently being treated at Trincomalee hospital.
The assailant had repeated asked him whether he had any links to the protests in the British capital during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit there.
http://www.srilankamirror.com/english/index.php?option=com
_content&view=article&id=2097:tamil-returned-from-london-kidnapped-beaten-up&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50
“.......To threaten the demonstrators, and to blunt participation, the Sri Lankan High Commission started videoing them.
The SL government effectively uses a threat of arrest and abduction of any demonstrator identified by the video images, if they happen to visit the island.....” (Excerpt) http://wrp.org.uk/news/6101
Island fellows should be given Lake House
Lake House fellows should be sent home –
President tells the Media Minister
2010-12-09 - President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday (8) to inform the seniors at Lake House to learn how best to safeguard the interests of the government by looking at the manner in which the senior journalists at The Island newspaper acted, an official from the Government Information Department told Lanka News Web.
The President has told the Media Minister that the Lake House heads should be sent home and it should be handed over to The Island journalists Prabath Sahabandu, C.A. Chandraprema and Shamindra Ferdinando and had also asked the Minister to inquire if Shamindra Ferdinando could be appointed as the Chairman of ITN.
The President has added that although he had asked the state media heads to write articles targeting Karu Jayasuriya, they had not paid any attention to it and that in such a backdrop, the conduct of The Island journalists should be commended. He has asked the Media Minister to let him know if these journalists from The Island newspaper were in need of anything in specific.
The President has also asked the Media Minister to inform the state media heads to give maximum support to Sajith Premadasa in order to hamper the UNP convention on the 12th. He has further noted that Sajith had asked him for the support of the state media institutions.
http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2010_12_09_010.html
Major General Prasanna Silva to gather info on families of those who protested in the UK
2010-12-04 - Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has ordered the Defence Attache at the Sri Lankan High Commission in the UK, Major General Prasanna Silva to immediately gather information about the persons who participated in the protests in London against President Mahinda Rajapaksa and their families, sources from the High Commission told Lanka News Web.
The officials said that the gathering of photographs, video footage and other details about these persons have already begun and that those who are identified would have difficulties in traveling to Sri Lanka in future.
The official further noted that the Defence Secretary has decided to gather information of the relatives of the persons who participated in the protests, especially the relatives in Colombo.
http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2010_12_04_002.html RAJAPAKSA TERROR REACHES OUT TO THE US
2010-02-13 - The Sri Lankan embassy has organized a cultural event to celebrate the 62nd Independence Day of Sri Lanka on the 13th and Sri Lankan Ambassador to Washington, Jaliya Wickremasuriya is reportedly taking measures to disrupt the peaceful protest organized on the same day by a group of Sri Lankans supporting democracy in their mother country.
The ambassador has informed the Washington Police that a pro-LTTE group was planning to disrupt the proceedings of the Independence Day celebrations and the cultural event and that if they were not arrested upon their arrival at the embassy, they may attack the invitees.
The ambassador has requested the police to arrest these protestors as soon as they arrive at the venue. Wickremasuriya it is learnt is acting in the same manner as the government by calling any one against the government a Tiger.
Wickremasuriya has also asked the embassy photographer to take close up photographs of the persons who arrive to participate in the protest. He had said the photographs would be used to identify the individuals and arrest them on false charges when they visit Sri Lanka on holiday.
http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2010_02_13_006.html
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