A statement issued by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday said its Chairman Senator John Kerry, Ranking Member Richard Lugar and Subcommittee Chairman on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr., welcomed the President Rajapaksa's decision to pardon journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who had been convicted last year and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor.
"I welcome President Rajapaksa's pardon and I hope it will be part of a process to restore an independent press to Sri Lanka that can write and report without fear of intimidation or persecution," Senator Kerry was quoted in the statement.
"I hope this action by President Rajapaksa signals an improvement in conditions for all journalists in Sri Lanka and will be a tangible step to bring about national reconciliation in the aftermath of the country�s long and bitter civil war," Ranking Member Senator Lugar has said.
"Sri Lanka has been one of the most dangerous environments in the world for a journalist. Scores of journalists censor themselves out of fear for their safety. Others were forced into exile and some remain in jail. I welcome Mr. Tissainayagam's release and hope that it signals that fundamental press freedoms will be respected in Sri Lanka," Senator Casey has remarked.
Tissainayagam was arrested by Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Division of police in March 2008 and detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Colombo High Court in August 2009 convicted Tissainayagam under three charges of conspiracy and violating the PTA and emergency regulations after he was charged with inciting violence in articles in his magazine and sentenced him to 20-years of rigorous imprisonment.
On May 3, the World Press Freedom Day, President Rajapaksa pardoned Tissainayagam who was free on bail since January this year.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other observers have said that the arrest and conviction were unjustified and an attack against press freedom. On World Press Freedom Day in 2009, Senators Kerry, Lugar, and Casey expressed their concern about Tissainayagam's detention, the statement said.
Tissainayagam arrived in the U.S. last Saturday (June 20) and he was warmly welcomed by a representative of the CPJ and his friends.
Tissainayagam received the CPJ's International Press Freedom Award and Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism in 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment