[ZESTMedia] Sri Lanka: New anti-terrorism law forces columnist into self-censorship

[Tarun Udwala]

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/80034/

New anti-terrorism law forces columnist into self-censorship

Country/Topic: Sri Lanka
Date: 19 December 2006
Source: Free Media Movement (FMM)
Person(s): Iqbal Athas
(FMM/IFEX) - The following is an FMM press release:


New regulations and censorship

The Free Media Movement (FMM) expresses dismay at the growing
self-censorship of media in Sri Lanka, in light of the recently
introduced anti-terrorism legislation. The Emergency (Prevention and
Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities)
Regulations No. 07 of 2006, introduced in early December 2006, is a
serious threat to the freedom of expression. As previously noted in
our statement of 7th December 2006, we reiterate our serious concern
regarding the enactment of these regulations, which we strongly feel
may result in censorship, the violation of human rights, and the
further erosion of media freedom.

Proving these concerns urgent and valid was the self-censorship
exercised by Iqbal Athas in the Sunday Times of 17th December 2006.
One of the best known and widely read defense columnists, an award
winning investigative journalist and Associate Editor of The Sunday
Times in Sri Lanka, Iqbal Atthas censored himself twice in his column:

"The LTTE was stepping up its military offensives in the recent weeks.
The Security Forces have evolved their own counter measures. A fuller
discussion on this issue, which is of public interest, is not possible
in the light of the newly-introduced Prevention and Prohibition of
Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations.

"The Sunday Times will not disclose casualty counts in the light of
the new Emergency Regulations. Wounded soldiers were airlifted from
the area to Colombo both on Sunday and Monday nights for immediate
medical attention."

Full text of column can be read at
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/061217/Columns/sitreport.html

The slippery slope of self-censorship in Sri Lanka, a country with a
highly suspect and worsening record of safeguarding fundamental
rights, and which has dramatically regressed on every major press
freedom index, is one that the FMM fears will increasingly deprive
citizens the reporting of information in the public interest.

Recognising the clear undesirability of such a situation, and the
serious implications it has for democratic governance, media freedom
and the strengthening of fundamental rights in Sri Lanka, we once
again urgently request the government to clarify its position
regarding the obvious incompatibility of the recently enacted
anti-terrorism regulations and the growth of free media and its
corollary, the freedom of expression.

MORE INFORMATION:



For further information, contact S. Sivakumar, tel: +94 777 315 665,
or the Free Media Movement, 237/22, Wijeya Kumaratunga Road, Colombo
05, Sri Lanka, tel: +94 777 312 457 / +94 11 257 3439, fax: +94 11 471
4460, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED], Internet:
http://www.freemediasrilanka.org