PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAY 26 OCTOBER 2011.Reporters Without Borders deplores the action of two Sri Lankan Internet Service Providers in blocking access to the independent news website Lanka-e-News and calls on them to explain themselves. If they are doing it at the government’s behest, they have become accomplices to state censorship. The site has been inaccessible since 18 October.
“This decision by Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and Dialog Axiata PLC to block the Lanka-e-News site reflects the increase in censorship in Sri Lanka,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We urge these ISPs not to discriminate against news sites that are critical of the government and to restore access to Lanka-e-News. The government must also stop pressuring ISPs and guarantee their independence.”
The hounding of Lanka-e-News has intensified this year. An arson attack on its headquarters in the Colombo suburb of Malabe in the early hours of 31 January gutted most of the building including the rooms housing its computers and library and forced it to suspend all activities.
The Lanka-e-News political journalist and cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda is meanwhile still missing. He disappeared on 24 January 2010 (See the support campaign).
Several other sites, including the Sri Lanka Guardian, are permanently blocked. Groundviews and its partner site Vikalpa were temporarily blocked on 20 June, like the Transparency International site.
Lanka-e-News editor Sandaruwan Senadheera, who fled into exile a year ago, has been interviewed by Reporters Without Borders about the current state of media freedom and freedom of information in Sri Lanka: Full Story>>>
