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Alert

New anti-terrorism law forces columnist into self-censorship

(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.