மணமக்கள்!

tamilnet.com
Tissainayagam wins international award for ‘courageous and ethical journalism’

J. S. Tissainayagam, a Tamil reporter sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison, has been named the first winner of the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism. Tissainayagam was selected for the awrd, by the US branch of RSF and Global Media Forum (GMF), a company founded by Mackler to train journalists and non-profit organizations to use the media as a tool for social change. The Peter Mackler Award, named for a 30-year veteran of Agence France-Presse (AFP) who died last year, rewards journalists who fight courageously and ethically to report the news in countries where freedom of the press is either not guaranteed or not recognized.

Tissainayagam will be formally awarded the Peter Mackler prize at a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington on October 2. Marcus Brauchli, executive editor of The Washington Post, will be the keynote speaker.

"We are happy to reward J.S. Tissainayagam in 2009, a terrible year for Sri Lanka," AFP quoted Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary-general of the Paris-based press rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), as saying.

"This country needs journalists who are determined and concerned with finding the truth," Julliard said in a statement issued hours after Tissainayagam was jailed for 20 years on charges of supporting terrorism.

"J.S. Tissainayagam is one of those and should never have been imprisoned," Julliard said.

"Sri Lanka will never know peace if the press is not free to play its role of fourth power," Julliard said. "Sri Lankans have the right to be informed about what is happening on their island.

"They have the right to read words written by men like J. S. Tissainayagam."

Tissainayagam, who has been cited by US President Barack Obama as an "emblematic example" of a persecuted journalist, was sentenced to 20 years of hard labor.

He was found guilty on charges of receiving money from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and causing racial hatred through his writings about Tamils affected by the LTTE war for a separate homeland.

Tissainayagam contributed to Sri Lanka's Sunday Times and ran a website, Outreachsl.com, that focused on the island's Tamils.

RSF condemned the "extremely severe" sentence imposed on Tissainayagam saying it "suggests that some Sri Lanka judges confuse justice with revenge.

"With the help of confessions extracted by force and information that was false or distorted, the court has used an anti-terrorism law that was intended for terrorists, not for journalists and human rights activists," it said.

The Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism was founded in June 2008 to honor the memory of Mackler, who died of a heart attack that month at the age of 58.

Mackler covered wars, elections and other notable events around the world during his career at AFP and was key in transforming the agency's English language service into the international competitor it is today.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=30130

Sentence to Tissainayagam extra-judicial: HR lawyer [TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009]

The sentence of 20-year rigorous imprisonment to J.S. Tissanayagam on Monday mark a sad day for journalists and those who believe in the ’freedom of expression’ all over the world, says Deputy Chairperson of Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), K Sivapalan, an Atterney-at-Law from Trincomalee, in whose opinion this is an extra-judicial way to punish people. ”The provisions of the PTA are not in conformity with the International Criminal Law especially the ’confession’ being admitted in evidence agaist the accused and with regard to the burden of proof.UNHRC requested the GoSL to repeal or amend many of the provisions which were not in conformity. However this was not followed by them on the basis that it was an erosion of the sovereignty of Sri Lanka,” Mr. Sivapalan, now exiled in Norway, said.

Full text of the statement by Lawyer Sivapalan follows: K. SivapalanToday is a sad day for the journalists and those who believe in the ’freedom of expression’ all over the world. Journalist J.S.Tissanayagam, Editor of Northeastern Herald Monthly and the online magazine ’outreach.com , has bee found guilty under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) by the Colombo High Court and sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment.

This has come as a shock hot on the heels of the Video clipping published by the ’Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka’of the extra- judicial killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka during the war said to be by the Sri Lankan Army personnel.

Tissanayagam was not arrested on the basis of any ongoing investigation against him. He was arrested at the Police station when he went to find out as to why his Printers Jaseetharan and his wife Valarmathy were taken to the Police Station. It has been held in the case of , Pathmanathan-Vs-Officer-In-Charge of TID Vavuniya, by the Sri Lankan Courts, that it is wrong to arrest a person and then search for evidence to indict him. This seems to be exactly the case here.

Tissanayagam was indicted in Court after holding him in detention under the Emergency Regulations (EMR) /PTA for well over six months. It is pertinent to mention here that in many cases persons are detained without indicting them or releasing them for long period, upto 18 months using the powers under the EMR/PTA said to be on suspicion and are freed later when a Fundamental Rights Application is filed in the Supreme Court under Article 126 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. This is used as an extra-judicial way to punish people.

Seldom one gets any ’redress’ from the government / Police as the applicants, who are often the kith and kin of the detained persons are satisfied once the detainee is released without any further action. Further in 99 percent of these cases the detainees are tortured in order to obtain a ’confession’ from them, which is admissible in evidence in cases filed under EMR/PTA.

The Members of the United Nations Human Rights Committee(UNHRC) in the matter of Nallaratnam Singarasa on a communication by him against the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) expressed the view that many of the provisions of the PTA are not in conformity with the International Criminal Law especially the ’confession’ being admitted in evidence agaist the accused and with regard to the burden of proof.UNHRC requested the GOSL to repeal or amend many of the provisions which were not in conformity.

However this was not followed by them on the basis that it was an erosion of the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Later on an application filed on behalf of Nallaratnam Singarasa, in the Supreme Court, S.C.Spl (L.A) No: 182/99,the then Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Sarath N de Silva held that the accession to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which enabled individuals from Sri Lanka to take their cases to the UNHRC was in itself in excess of the powers conferred on the President of Sri Lanka under Article 33 (f)of the Constitution. That was the end of the matter.

In the case of Mariyadas, on an appeal, Learned Justice Hector Seneviratne Yapa held that the standard of proof required of an accused in a Preliminary Inquiry (Voire Dire Examination) held to decide upon the admissibility of the so called confession of the accused is lesser than ,’beyond all reasonable doubt’ expected of a prosecution in a criminal case. Mere doubt created in the mind of the Judge as to whether ’confession’ was voluntary, was enough in order not to admit the so called confession in evidence.

It would seem that this has not been followed in this case against Tissanayagam. Further, it is to be noted that Tissa has been assisting the Sinhala suspects belonging to JVP when they were being viciously targeted and killed by the S.L.Army and police. What he has written in the columns of Northeastern Herald Monthly was not considered to be material fit enough to bring disharmony between the communities for a very long time but was culled out now in order to find something to indict him.

In the same vein the poisonous racism spit out by many of the Sinhla politicians in their speeches would entail all of them to be found guilty if brought before court for creating disharmony between the communities.

In any event ’rigorous imprisonment’ is something for murderers and hardcore criminals and certainly not for journalists of the like of Tissainayagam without previous conviction of any sort.

Leader of an Independent group contesting the Jaffna Municipality Elections recently said in an Interview that people in Jaffna open their mouths only to eat.

With this sentence meted out to Tissanayagam only people of the calibre of Lasantha Wickramatunga may venture to put their pen to paper. In fact those who brought this prosecution against Tissainayagam might have put to rest freedom of the press and democracy in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30131

Lopsided sovereignty sentences Tissainayagam - journalist [TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009]

If Tissainayagam is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for 'inciting communal feelings' by editing, printing or distributing North Eastern Herald Monthly, what should be the punishment to Sarath Fonseka, who as commander of the armed forces publicly said Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese, mutilating the constitution and inciting genocide in the island, asks a senior journalist in Colombo. Unfortunately there are governments and diplomats who deceive humanity by projecting Sri Lanka as a ‘democratically elected government', besides multi national corporations, who don’t care freedom of people but grabbing opportunities in the island and there are also media such as The Hindu in India and a host of others in the international community praising Colombo on its ‘successes’ in ethnic totalitarianism, the journalist said.

Tissainayagam, Tamil journalist in jail“While on one hand verbally urging Colombo to curb impunity in human rights, the international community on the other hand rationalises the impunity of state terrorism and illegitimate sovereignty of Sri Lanka in the island."

"India and the powers diluting the national question in the island as minority issue will never address the crisis in the island but will only contribute to the escalation of state terrorism in all its forms. Tissainayagam case is a classic example,” the journalist commented.

If unchecked, the dangerous experiment of powers in the island, setting an ugly precedence in contemporary history, is going to be a serious challenge to the free world, the journalist further said.

The sentence to Tissainayagam is seen in the Tamil circles as a response of Colombo to the leak of a video clip allegedly showing extra-judicial killings of Sri Lanka army. The video clip was released last Tuesday by a group of Sinhala and Tamil journalists called Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=30129

CPJ honors Tissainayagam with Press Freedom Award [TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 September 2009]
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based media watchdog, announced Monday that it will honor imprisoned Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam with 2009 International Press Freedom Award. "We are announcing this award today to highlight the depth of outrage at this unjust sentence," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "Its harshness and the retroactive nature of the charges reflect vindictiveness and intolerance. We are calling today for Tissainayagam's release--an appeal we plan to repeat at our awards ceremony, when the world's leading journalists gather to demand press freedom for all of our colleagues," CPJ's press release said.

Chrisiane Amanpour, chief international correspondent for CNN will be the invited Host at the Annual Awards dinner to be held on 24th November.

Full text of the press release follows:
The Committee to Protect Journalists announced today that it will honor imprisoned Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam with a 2009 International Press Freedom Award. Tissainayagam, left, sentenced today to 20 years in prison on specious charges of violating anti-terror laws, is one of five journalists who will be honored by CPJ at a ceremony in November. The full slate of awardees, selected by CPJ's Board of Directors this summer, will be formally announced in September.

A Colombo High Court sentenced Tissainayagam to 20 years of hard labor in the first conviction of a journalist under the country's harsh anti-terror laws. Tissainayagam, known as Tissa, suffers from poor health and said his confession to the charge was extracted under threat of torture, according to his lawyers.

"We are announcing this award today to highlight the depth of outrage at this unjust sentence," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "Its harshness and the retroactive nature of the charges reflect vindictiveness and intolerance. We are calling today for Tissainayagam's release--an appeal we plan to repeat at our awards ceremony, when the world's leading journalists gather to demand press freedom for all of our colleagues."

Terrorism Investigation Division officials arrested Tissainayagam, an English-language columnist for the Sri Lankan Sunday Times and editor of the news website OutreachSL, on March 7, 2008, when he visited their offices to inquire about the arrest of colleagues the previous day. He was held without charge under emergency regulations before his indictment in August 2008 for articles published nearly three years earlier in a now-defunct magazine, North Eastern Monthly.

Judge Deepali Wijesundara said articles Tissainayagam wrote for the Monthly in 2006 incited communal disharmony, an offense under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, according to international news reports. She also found him guilty of raising funds to publish the magazine, itself a violation of the anti-terror law. The Monthly folded in early 2007.

The anti-terror laws were relaxed in 2006-07, according to CPJ research. Under a cease-fire accord then in effect between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the government pledged not to detain people under the statutes. The government re-enacted provisions of the anti-terror laws after the cease-fire dissolved in early 2008, according to international news reports. Tissainayagam will appeal the sentence, the reports said.

The two colleagues, Vettivel Jasikaran and Vadivel Valamathy, also face anti-terror charges for aiding and abetting Tissainayagam. Published reports indicate they have not gone to trial. Jasikaran, who also worked on OutreachSL, owned a printing business that helped publish the Monthly. Valamathy had no reported involvement with the magazine beside her personal relationship with her companion, Jasikaran.

"The retroactive sentencing sets a very dangerous precedent. The government has singled out articles written during the cease-fire, when terrorism laws weren't even in effect," said Simon. "It sends a very clear message to journalists who've ever criticized a government policy: Anything you've ever said could suddenly be evidence against you."

U.S. President Barack Obama highlighted Tissainayagam's case during his World Press Freedom Day address in May.

Hundreds of prominent journalists will gather in New York on November 24 to recognize Tissainayagam and the other honorees. Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent, will be the host; Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is chairman of the event.

A CPJ special report, "Failure to Investigate," chronicles some of the growing incidents of attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka, including circumstances surrounding the murder of outspoken editor Lasantha Wickramatunga in January 2009.

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30138