President Gamarala requests Britain to arrest or deport Lanka e News editor Sandaruwan Senadheera
(Lanka e News -10.June.2018, 11.00PM) President of Sri Lanka Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena yesterday (9 th) requested Britain to have London-based Lanka e News Editor Pradeep Sandaruwan Senadheera arrested or sent back to Sri Lanka, Sunday Times (10) reported in its front page.
He made the request during a 30-minute a meeting with British High Commissioner James Dauris whom he summoned to his Paget Road residence.
After summoning the British High Commissioner in SL James Dauris to his Paget Road residence specially , the president has made this request. President’s co ordinating secretary Shiral Lakthileke and defense ministry secretary Kapila Wiadyaratne , lawyer were also present on the occasion , Sunday Times newspaper reported ( full text of report is appended).
Following inquiries made by Lanka e News , it was learnt that the defense secretary was silent , while the president and Shiral Lakthileke were explaining . The High Commissioner has not uttered a word , and has only recorded the statement .
However it is not known on what grounds this request to arrest or deport Lanka e news editor was made.
It is worthy of note Pallewatte Gamarala never had summoned a foreign envoy and instructed to arrest or deport the criminals Udayanga Weeratunge or Jaliya Wickremesinghe who are grave facing criminal charges and hence have fled the country, and in hiding . Neither has the president taken any action to arrest or deport V. Rudrakumaran who has formed a Tamil Eelam Trans national government and outrageously proclaimed to the world he is its prime minister .
The desperate victims of the recent floods who are in dire straits must be questioning the president , Waidyaratne and Shiral , why wasn’t the British High Commissioner specially summoned to ask for flood relief aid to alleviate their sufferings ?
Might we recall it was only after Lanka e News exposed the sordid Russian warship deal of the president , Lanka e news was proscribed in November last year within SL even without obtaining a court order.
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by (2018-06-10 18:20:25)
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday requested Britain to have London-based LankaeNews Editor Pradeep Sandaruwan Senadheera arrested or sent back to Sri Lanka. He made the request during a 30-minute a meeting with British High Commissioner James Dauris whom he summoned to his Paget Road residence.
Among those present at the discussion were the President’s Coordinating Secretary Shiral Lakthilaka and Defence Secretary Kapila Waidyaratne . The website has been blocked since November last year by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), headed by Presidential Secretary Austin Fernando. The ban was imposed after the website published articles critical of Mr Sirisena.
Information obtained under the Right to Information Act by the website Groundviews revealed that the President’s office issued a letter to the TRCSL Director General in November 2017 saying LankaeNews was publishing false articles about the President and his family members. Signed by Dharmasiri Bandara Ekanayake of the President’s Media unit, the letter said the site was run from outside Sri Lanka and that the office had tried to contact its editor via email and phone.
The President’s Office could not pursue legal action as the editor was based outside the country (Mr Senadheera fled to exile in London citing threats from the former Rajapaksa administration), it continued, before directing the TRCSL to take suitable action.
