Closing a university over a tamasha

Editorial-June 3, 2014

Some ruling party supporters, angered by a government decision to shift the venue of the next Deyata Kirula exhibition from the Ruhuna University to another place in view of student protests, set upon a group of undergrads injuring several of them on Monday. Prior to the incident, scores of irate government backers had held a demonstration opposite the university.

Ancient Roman rulers or optimates, as they called themselves, used bread and circuses or panem et circenses to distract the public or populares from their burning problems and prevent them from revolting. Even today, this kind of escapist entertainment is being used very effectively for political purposes. However, we have circuses sans bread! The electronic media also helps further the interests of governments in power, albeit unwittingly, by telecasting third rate soap operas one after the other daily, thereby, causing viewers to forget their problems at least temporarily. The poor hit the sack on empty stomachs, ruminating over the scenes in teledramas they have just watched instead of the causes of their woes.

Rulers in this country have surpassed the Roman optimates; they have introduced state-sponsored mega carnivals to keep the populares entertained. Gam Udawa was introduced by the UNP at a massive cost to the state coffers, and now we have Deyata Kirula, which also costs taxpayers an arm and a leg. Thronging crowds at such events prove politicians right; there’s a sucker born every minute!

Student protests against the government’s original plan to use their university as the venue for Deyata Kirula may have been politically motivated as the government supporters claimed on Monday. It may also be true that they are being manipulated by some external political forces opposed to the government exhibition. There’s hardly anything devoid of politics in this country.

The University of Ruhuna has been closed indefinitely following Monday’s incident. It is a crime to close a seat of higher learning at least for a single day in this manner. However, the university authorities may have been left with no other choice in view of tension following the attack. There have been several bloody clashes between the undergrads of that university and government thugs over other issues during the past few years.

The government blundered by considering a university as the venue for its grand tamasha and provoking student protests unnecessarily. It has managed to pacify undergrads by changing the venue, but failed to rein in its supporters.

Pro-government demonstrators who took to the streets on Monday, demanding that Deyata Kirula be held at the university and nowhere else carried a big banner with a telling slogan in Sinhala; it urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to overcome resistance from Ruhuna undergrads at any cost, the way he had defeated the LTTE, and hold the exhibition at the original venue. True, the President provided unwavering leadership to the country’s war on terror. People are still expressing their gratitude to him in terms of votes at elections. But, the defeat of terrorism cannot be used to justify the government’s high-handed acts such as bulldozing its way through.

Master Blaster turned Deputy Minister Sanath Jayasuriya was seen batting really hard for the pro-government demonstrators on Monday. He knows his home turf better than anyone else. Here is a situation where he should play his elegant back foot defensive shot without stoking his party supporters’ hatred towards undergrads; he ought to knock some sense into protesters and urge them to agree to the new exhibition venue and refrain from perpetrating violence against students they have come to perceive as enemies.

“IGP Must Set An Example That No One Is Above The Law” Says UNP

June 4, 2014 

The United National Party is appalled at the brutal attack on a policeman allegedly by goons commissioned by a Deputy Minister of the ruling government.

Deputy Minister Hemal Gunasekara

Police Constable Suminda Saman was assaulted and his vehicle set on fire by a group of thugs that the victim suspects to be associates of a Deputy Minister. According to the statement given by the injured policeman, a Deputy Minister had threatened the Constable the previous day when the Minister’s vehicle had been issued with a speeding ticket at the Southern Expressway. The abusive Minister had claimed that instead of issuing booking him for speeding the policeman should worship him because he was a Deputy Minister of this Government. Attempts to force the policeman to do so had failed and the Minister had in no uncertain terms have threatened the victim that he would pay for his ‘crime.’

The tragedy that the case of Constable Saman brings to light is that no citizen of Sri Lanka, not even those tasked with protecting the citizenry and giving effect to the law, are immune from the machinations of political thuggery and impunity. The failure of the police to act in clear cases of political thuggery, either due to influence or fear, has brought the chickens home to roost. No longer are even police personnel safe from politicians and their goon squads.

There have been other victims of similar crimes, and the investigations have always led no where, perhaps because the trail leads too often to the doors of the most powerful in this country. From the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunga in broad daylight in 2009, to the innumerable attacks on media personnel, the Secretary to the Judicial Services Commission during the impeachment saga, to the attack on a group of Parliamentarians of the UNP in Mattala, investigations have only commenced, never concluded. Perpetrators are never prosecuted and impunity reigns.

These tragic incidents are emblematic of the erosion of the law and order in this country, the blatant abuse of power by the government and its cohorts and the day to day indignities that average public servants have to face by goons who rule this country.

The United National Party believes that onus for this travesty of justice must fall upon the Inspector General of Police. Constable Saman is one of his men. Will he stand up to safeguard the security and dignity of his own officer and the thousands of others that must face a similar predicament at the hands of politicians and their affiliates? Will he question the Deputy Minister, will he demand accountability of the political leadership? The IGP must set an example that no one is above the law. Constable Saman’s sole crime was to treat a Minister of the government like any other citizen. He has paid the price for his transgression. Which policeman will ever dare to book a politician for wrongdoing again?

These incidents seem isolated but they are a symptom of the greater destruction of the judicial system in this country. The Supreme Court filled with cronies and lackeys cannot be expected to mete out justice at lower levels. The results of the systematic destruction the judiciary the police and all other democratic institutions by the Rajapaksa regime are now visible for all to see.

The UNP pledges to the police, armed forces and all other public servants that their days of serving a brutish regime are limited. Day by day, the true face of this Government is being exposed. The end is near and it is the people, like Constable Saman who had the courage of his convictions to hold everyone – even a deputy minister – equal before the law that will usher in the change. The people will not have to suffer these indignities long.

*Statement Issued by the United National Party

Sam S Wijesinha now has 2 criminal charges in Fort Magistrates Court

 Wednesday, 04 June 2014 

SC dismisses Sam Wijesinha’s application 

The Supreme Court dismissed a special leave to Appeal application filed by Sam Wijesinha, the retired Secretary General of Parliament and retired Ombudsman. The petitioner had appealed to the Supreme Court to set aside a Court of Appeal Judgment dated October 24, 2007 which said, "Hence, it is abundantly clear that the petitioner Mr. Wijesinha, is entitled to only one pension. It follows, that the petitioner had been drawing payment in excess of what is due. A writ cannot be issued to quash the decision of the Divisional Secretary of Colombo to stop the payment of petitioner's pension receivable in terms of Award No. J. 228060 of August 7. 1981."

The petitioner had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court to get that Court of Appeal judgment set aside.
Sam Wijesinha, appeared in person. N. G. Pulle, Senior State Counsel, appeared for the respondents, the Director of Pensions and others.

The Supreme Court Bench comprised the Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva Justice N. G. Amaratunga and Justice J. Balapatabandi.

A landmark ruling / A second pension for ex-Secy Gen. of Parliament
Pension Chief’s right to stop extra payment, recover 1.5 million from plaintiff upheld by Shamindra Ferdinando

In a landmark judgment, the Appeal Court has ruled that former Secretary General of Parliament Sam Wijesinha has no right to draw two pensions.

Wijesinha sought court intervention after Pensions Chief K. A. Thilakaratne stopped payment of the first pension after the Colombo Divisional Secretariat detected what Thilakaratne called unlawful payment. This came to light when the Divisional Secretariat was in the process of rectifying pension anomalies
In a lengthy ruling, the Appeal Court has upheld Thilakaratne’s decision taken in consultation with Secretary to the Public Administration Ministry. The Pensions Chief has been represented by the Attorney General.

It transpired before the Appeal Court that Wijesinha had received two pensions-one as the retired Secretary General of Parliament and the second as the retired Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman) for over 12 years. 

After his retirement on July 31, 1991 after completing 10 years as the Ombudsman at the age of 70, the Pensions Department had prepared a pension after taking into consideration both his appointments. But this was subjected to the prerequisite that the first pension would be stopped. 

But due to the negligence on the part of the Pensions Department for over a decade, Wijesinha had received an extra pension. A senior official said that the Department should have detected the extra pension years ago.

The Appeal Court also upheld the Pensions Chief’s decision to recover Rs 1.5 million which had been paid to Wijesinha over the amount due to him. Immediately after stopping the additional pension, the Pensions Chief had started deducting the money on a monthly basis of 50 per cent of the pension he was entitled to.

The Appeal Court also directed plaintiff to pay costs to the defendant. In his application, Wijesinha reiterated his right to a double pension on the basis depriving him of one pension would be against the law.

The Pensions Department, in its defence pointed out that Wijesinha would be drawing a pension even higher than that of retired Chief Justice, had he been allowed to draw two pensions.

The Island in a front-page exclusive story on October 25, 2004 revealed the dispute between Thilakaratne and Wijesinha over the former’s decision to stop the additional pension. Thilakaratne, in an interview with The Island, revealed his decision to stop one pension and recover the entire sum paid over the amount due to him. Wijesinha, in a statement issued to the press, challenged our story headlined Pensions chief requests PMG, IGP for help to wipe out fraud with a sub headline …stops second pension to ex-Secy. Gen. of Parliament. 

The Island learns that an attempt was made by a senior public official to settle the case out of Court. The Attorney General Department had conducted an in-depth investigation before the recent landmark judgment was given.

Legal sources said that there had not been a previous case similar to this. Well informed sources said that the Pension Department was in the process of investigating fraudulent activity particularly relating to unauthorised drawing of pensions.

1st-Case No. 74916/13 under section 392 - criminal breach of trust, that while being / having the Power of Attorney of Mrs Maive Outschoorn, widow of Dr Aubrey S. (Buds) Outschoorn for misappropriation of 15.5 million rupees from the sale of the house and land on 32 perches inherited from her mother at No.7, 8th Lane Colombo 3.

The 2nd charge 386-is apparently for misapplication of the same amount.

Country Or One Family? Karu J Makes The Right Call

By Vishwamithra1984 -June 4, 2014 

“In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?” - Saint Augustine

Thirty seven years ago, in 1977, when the country was in the grip of a rule by one single Family, theBandaranaikes, the country chose in an overwhelming manner to dispel that ‘Family’ from power. The scourge of the Family Tree was most starkly and succinctly illustrated in the political booklet by the name “Scourge of the Seven Years” (Hath vasaka saapaya) and each time a new edition was printed, it was sold out within a very short time, in fact within a few weeks. Those who subscribe to the thinking that Sri Lankans, as a whole, are quite used to and well entrenched in embracing ‘family rule’ as a form of governance from ancient times of Kings and Queens, are merely offering excuses for their own subservient attitudes and social serfdom and political impotence. Sri Lankans as a nation might tolerate family rule if that family rule is in the exclusive interest of the subjects; if on the contrary, that family rule is established and perpetuated solely for the purposes of extending its power, influence and hold over the nation’s wealth and other treasures, both material and human, then that patience of the subject people would not last.

Sri Lanka seems to be fast approaching that precise threshold today- bidding adieu to family rule and embracing a more participatory way of governance. Taken in that context, the statement issued by Karu Jayasuriya, Chairman of the Leadership Council of the United National Party (UNP) is most relevant and to the point, so to speak. Whether the United National Party in particular and the Opposition as a whole are ready and willing to take the fight to the people and confront the challenges hurled at them by a governing clique that is motivated and determined to cling on to power at whatever cost is another question altogether and that question could be answered only by those who occupy those Opposition benches today.                                                    Read More 

No longer are even police personnel safe from politicians and their goon squads - UNP

(Lanka-e-News- 04.June.2014, 8.30PM) The United National Party is appalled at the brutal attack on a policeman allegedly by goons commissioned by a Deputy Minister of the ruling government.
Police Constable Suminda Saman was assaulted and his vehicle set on fire by a group of thugs that the victim suspects to be associates of a Deputy Minister. According to the statement given by the injured policeman, a Deputy Minister had threatened the Constable the previous day when the Minister's vehicle had been issued with a speeding ticket at the Southern Expressway. The abusive Minister had claimed that instead of issuing booking him for speeding the policeman should worship him because he was a Deputy Minister of this Government. Attempts to force the policeman to do so had failed and the Minister had in no uncertain terms have threatened the victim that he would pay for his 'crime.'

The tragedy that the case of Constable Saman brings to light is that no citizen of Sri Lanka, not even those tasked with protecting the citizenry and giving effect to the law, are immune from the machinations of political thuggery and impunity. The failure of the police to act in clear cases of political thuggery, either due to influence or fear, has brought the chickens home to roost. No longer are even police personnel safe from politicians and their goon squads.

There have been other victims of similar crimes, and the investigations have always led no where, perhaps because the trail leads too often to the doors of the most powerful in this country. From the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunga in broad daylight in 2009, to the innumerable attacks on media personnel, the Secretary to the Judicial Services Commission during the impeachment saga, to the attack on a group of Parliamentarians of the UNP in Mattala, investigations have only commenced, never concluded. Perpetrators are never prosecuted and impunity reigns.

These tragic incidents are emblematic of the erosion of the law and order in this country, the blatant abuse of power by the government and its cohorts and the day to day indignities that average public servants have to face by goons who rule this country.

The United National Party believes that onus for this travesty of justice must fall upon the Inspector General of Police. Constable Saman is one of his men. Will he stand up to safeguard the security and dignity of his own officer and the thousands of others that must face a similar predicament at the hands of politicians and their affiliates? Will he question the Deputy Minister, will he demand accountability of the political leadership? The IGP must set an example that no one is above the law. Constable Saman's sole crime was to treat a Minister of the government like any other citizen. He has paid the price for his transgression. Which policeman will ever dare to book a politician for wrongdoing again?

These incidents seem isolated but they are a symptom of the greater destruction of the judicial system in this country. The Supreme Court filled with cronies and lackeys cannot be expected to mete out justice at lower levels. The results of the systematic destruction the judiciary the police and all other democratic institutions by the Rajapaksa regime are now visible for all to see.

The UNP pledges to the police, armed forces and all other public servants that their days of serving a brutish regime are limited. Day by day, the true face of this Government is being exposed. The end is near and it is the people, like Constable Saman who had the courage of his convictions to hold everyone - even a deputy minister - equal before the law that will usher in the change. The people will not have to suffer these indignities long.

Over 1.2 mn children attend school without breakfast – medical expert

By Don Asoka Wijewardena-June 4, 2014

Senior lecturer in Paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo University, Dr. Pujitha Wickremasinghe yesterday revealed that out of four million schoolchildren in Sri Lanka about 30 per cent attended schools without having breakfast.

Although school canteen owners had been instructed to implement school canteen policy and help inculcate healthy eating habits among students, most of them were found to be selling food with very high levels of sugar, oil and salt, Dr.Wickremasinghe said at a media conference on Nutrition of schoolchildren at the Health Education Bureau.

Dr. Wickremasinghe pointed out that the time had come to save the student population from serious illnesses as most parents encouraged them to consume junk food for convenience. Anaemia, wasting, stunting and obesity were prevalent among children, the senior lecturer said.

Consultant Community Physician Dr. Mrs. Ayesha Lokubalasooriya said that the plight of the student population in Sri Lanka was a matter of great concern. Lack of nutrition caused impaired physical growth, anaemia, poor educational performance, poor memory, low IQ, delayed puberty and eating disorders and obesity, she stressed.

Director Nutrition Coordination Unit Ministry of Health Dr. Mrs. Shanthi Gunawardena said that a study conducted by the Medical Research Institute (MRI) had revealed that around 15 percent of children and infants between six and 11 months were suffering from micro-nutrient deficiencies. Even children at pre-school ages (20 percent) were suffering from anaemia, she said. About 22.2 per cent non-pregnant women between the ages of 15 and 19 and 16.7 per cent of pregnant mothers were suffering from anaemia, she said.

Rains continue merciless onslaught 

Deaths rise to 22 and 22,499 persons displaced-June 4, 2014

By Menaka Indrakumar and Ruwan Laknath Jayakody

Due to the savage mauling inflicted by the continuing floods and landslides, the death toll in the country has risen to 22, leaving 5,314 families and 22,449 persons stranded in its wake.

Authorities say the death toll is likely to rise due to the increasing flood levels, especially in the Kalutara District.
Although the government was understaffed when it came to handling matters like this, Minister of Disaster Management, Mahinda Amaraweera, attempting to absolve the government of complete responsibility for this calamity, said this horrendous catastrophe could have been averted to a certain degree if people built their abodes according to National Building Research Organization (NBRO) recommendations.

By 1 p.m. yesterday, 598 families and 2,535 persons were to share space in 14 safe locations.
However, the numbers displaced have since reached a staggering 7,592 families and 27,243 individuals, who only have 23 safe camps and temples to take temporarily shelter in.

In the havoc wreaked, 44 houses have been fully destroyed and 329 houses have been partly damaged.
Director of the National Disaster Relief Services Centre (NDRSC), Prasanna Chandith said, "The highest death toll of 14 was reported in the Kalutara District, followed by four in Ratnapura, two in Colombo and one each in Matara and Kurunegala, while two persons have gone missing in Akuressa and Biyagama. In Gampaha eight persons have been injured."

He added, "The present death toll will most probably increase due to the rising flood levels in the Walallawita area in the Kalutara District.

The Walallawita Divisional Secretariat has moved its office to a safer location and more of our officers from Colombo have been rushed to the Kalutara District to take stock of the situation."

Meanwhile, the NBRO, while stating that rainfall would continue at 100 millimetres, issued another 24-hour Level 2 landslide warning requesting extreme vigilance from citizens in the in high risk Districts of Kalutara (Agalawatta, Palinda Nuwara, Matugama, Bulathsinhala, Kalutara and Walallawita), Galle (Neluwa and Thawalama), Ratnapura (Kalawana, Elapatha, Ratnapura, Balangoda, Eheliyagoda and Nivithigala), Kegalle (Yatiyanthota, Deraniyagala, Ruwanwella and Dehiowita), Badulla (Haldummulla) and Nuwara Eliya (Ambagamuwa and Nuwara Eliya) for possible landslides, rock falls and cut slope failures.
Potential threat of spreading communicable diseases 

June 4, 2014 
Due to the prevailing unfavourable weather condition and flood health authorityies advice people to be more aware of communicable diseases.


People are asked to be extra careful of vegetable and other food they consume and be on alert of typhoid and fever.

Worker and Trade Union Rights Must Be Prioritized for the Well Being of the Worker and their Families

William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador-Jun-03-2014

Joint Statement– June 2 2014

1. STABLE REGULAR EMPLOYMENT UNTIL RETIREMENT AGE–ABOLISH PRECARIOUS SHORT-TERM EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS(SALEM, Ore.) - We, the undersigned 47 civil society organizations, trade unions and concerned groups, make the following demands to better protect worker and trade union rights in Malaysia. It is sad when a government places the interest of businesses, investors and employers over the rights and welfare of workers and their families.

The right to permanent regular employment until retirement age is essential for the economic well being and financial stability of the worker and their families.

A short-term or fixed term employment contract is a form of precarious employment that must be abolished. It allows for the denial of the right of retirement at 60, maternity rights and benefits, increments of rights which comes with tenure, makes it near impossible for such workers to form, join or even serve as leaders in existing unions. Such short-term employment contracts, usually a year or less, with no right of extension even if the work still exist, weakens worker capacity to struggle for better worker rights, and certainly weakens unions or makes unionization impossible.

Worker and Trade Union Rights Must Be Prioritized for the Well Being of the Worker and Their Families by Thavam Ratna

Taliban releases video of Bowe Bergdahl handover

The Taliban publishes footage showing the release of US soldier Bowe Bergdahl. The 28-year-old was handed to US special forces in exchange for five Afghan detainees.

WEDNESDAY-04 JUNE 2014
The footage, which was posted on Al-Emara, a Taliban website, could not be independently verified by Channel 4 News.

It showed Mr Bergdahl sitting in a car in the Batai area of Khost, surrounded by Taliban militants, before a US helicopter carried him away.

White flags

The militants were seen shouting "Long live the Mujahideen." Mr Bergdahl, clean shaven, dressed in a white salwar kameez and with a shaved head, is seen waiting in a white pick-up truck as Taliban militants outside lean in to talk to him.

He appears to blink in the bright light, assenting as they speak.

The Pashto narration on the video said the Americans asked the Taliban where they should meet for the handover and the Taliban told them they could meet wherever the Americans wanted to meet.

A helicopter flew overhead and landed at a distance of about 100 metres from Mr Bergdahl and his captors, who held white flags. The narration in the video said 18 armed militants were in the area on guard as the handover took place and that another helicopter landed on a hill nearby.

Read more: Afghan president angry at US/Taliban prisoner exchange

US military

The narration also said the US military "was in a rush and did not greet (them) properly."

As one of the helicopters lands throwing up a cloud of dust, Mr Bergdahl is led to his rescuers by two men, one leading him by the hand and another waving a white cloth crudely tied to a wooden stick.

Most of the Taliban have their faces covered with scarves, while Mr Bergdahl wears his over his shoulders.

They are greeted by three men who shake their hands and lead Mr Bergdahl by the arm to the helicopter. The aircraft takes off and the message in English flashes up: "Don't come back to Afghanistan."

Mr Bergdahl, held for nearly five years in Afghanistan, was freed last week in a prisoner-swap deal with the Taliban brokered by the Qatari government. Five Taliban militants were released from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and flown to Qatar.

Behind India's shocking gang rapes lies a deep crisis among young men

Rapes have spiralled as a lost generation of jobless, ill-educated men has reached adulthood and sought refuge in violence

Girls protest in Lucknow, India, after the gang-rape and murder of two sisters in Uttar Pradesh. Photograph: Azam Husain/Barcroft India

i

Kishwar Desai-Wednesday 4 June 2014

For anyone who maintains that women are raped because of the way they dress or the way they look, the image of two thin and scrawny teenagers hanging from a mango tree, gang raped and murdered by their neighbours in Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, provided a powerful lesson. It was a poignant reminder that, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, incidents of rape in India have gone up tenfold in the last 40 years.

From 1971 to 2012 recorded cases shot up from just under 2,500 to almost 25,000, and activists believe only 10% of cases are actually reported to the police. This rising trend of sexual violence needs to be better understood. And today it was reported that a judge in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, was the victim of an attempted rape in her well-protected home.

The enormous spike in rape incidents has been ascribed, in urban areas, to women joining the workforce and facing aggressive male resistance; and in rural areas to the all-pervasive caste system, as in this case, where the girls belonged to a lower caste than the rapists. But the underlying problems go far wider, and point to a deeper crisis, which India must urgently address.

Uttar Pradesh, where these latest horrific attacks took place, is one of the poorest states in India, with more than 60 million people living on less than a pound a day. At the same time, India is grappling with a lost generation of those who were born after economic liberalisation but are ill-educated, unemployed – and, mostly, male. According to the International Labour Organisation, India saw a growth in joblessness between 2004 and 2009.

Unemployment and poverty are common features among the gangs who rape. In this environment, and within a patriarchal structure, violence is one of the few things that can command respect. As young men become increasingly unable to participate in the "India shining" fairytale, they reassert their identities, and power, in a savage and cruel act.

During the last 10 years, especially, there was an incredibly slow creation of educational and job opportunities. It is no coincidence that many marginalised men, born in the last two or three decades, have reached adolescence or adulthood in the same period as rape incidents began to spiral upwards.

And the police are often willing participants. In the Budaun case, not only were the rapists known to the victims' family, but two of the suspects are policemen. Indeed, they have sympathisers at an even higher level: the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, said recently about jailed rapists: "Boys will be boys."

Underlying all this is the fact that around half of India's population is under 30. And thanks to years of systematic sex selection, a significant majority of them are men. In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, there are just 912 girls for every 1,000 boys. This shortage of young women makes it very difficult for these men to have a normal relationship.

It is now obvious that the important anti-rape law passed last year, after the shocking gang-rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi, has not been enough: there are too few fast-track courts, and too many criminals are finding it easy to escape identification. They either hunt for younger and younger girls, who are less likely to name them; or, more and more, they kill or torture their victims – by pouring acid into their throats, setting them alight or, as in this case, hanging them.

Of course, it is important to note that rape happens behind closed doors in upper-class homes as well, and we cannot put the blame entirely on these marginalised, ill-educated young men. But as this trend of gang rapes becomes more prevalent, some economic solutions will have to be found to assimilate these increasingly frustrated young men into civil society, and ensure that education and jobs are offered. Otherwise Indian women will continue to pay the price.

How to Bleed a Country

Guatemala’s government continues to deny a genocide, violently repress activists, and undermine the rule of law. Has anything really changed since civil war ended nearly 20 years ago?

• BY LAUREN CARASIK-JUNE 3, 2014

Jesús Tecú Osorio was 10 years old and living in the rural Guatemalan village of Río Negro in March 1982 when soldiers and civil defense patrollers from a neighboring village raided his community. 

How to Bleed a Country by Thavam Ratna

Somalia mental health: one story of hope

Last year, we filmed with Abdullahi, a mentally ill Somali man who had been in chains or 17 years. But one mental health nurse has changed his life forever.Watch below: Jamal Osman's film with Abdullahi from 2013.

In August last year, Channel 4 News filmed with Abdullahi - a mentally ill Somali man. He was chained for 17 years in his tin hut, like an animal, 24 hours a day.

Somalia Mental Health One Story of Hope by Thavam Ratna

Did Yemeni 'child bride' rape horror never happen? Man produces eight-year-old daughter who he claims was never even married

• Reports had claimed Rawan, 8, died of internal injuries after wedding to 40-year-old man 
• Man said to be father says lies were spread by those 'duped by Satan'
• Young girl in hijab emerges in video
• Girl tells interviewer she is Rawan and she lives with her parents

By MIA DE GRAAF

PUBLISHED: 16:26 GMT, 18 September 2013 | UPDATED: 07:06 GMT, 19 September 2013

An eight-year-old ‘child bride’ reported to have died of internal injuries on her wedding night is alive, it is claimed.

Shocking reports emerged last week of a Yemeni girl called Rawan who died after being forced into marrying a man five times her age.

In a video released by Gulf News, Mohammed Abdu Abkar Ebrahim Hattan blasted the story as a rumour fabricated by people 'duped by Satan'.

Did Yemeni 'Child Bride' Rape Horror Never Happen Man Produces Eight-year-old Daughter Who He Claims Was Ne... by Thavam Ratna

Security forces obstruct Sri Lanka’s media

02/06/2014

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins Sri Lankan affiliate the Free Media Movement (FMM) in expressing concerns over recent incidents where security forces have openly obstructed the freedom of Sri Lanka’s media.

According to reports, high-ranking police officers warned journalists against filming a public event involving Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at Mout Lavinia District Court, in Colombo on May 27. The officer, who was filmed on camera, threatened journalists months of detention if they filmed Rajapaksha’s appearance on a defamation complaint against the Sunday Leader newspaper. The police also barred journalists from covering of the proceedings of the case.

On May 22, the Sri Lankan Army forced Transparency International Sri Lanka to cancel a media workshop focused on covering corruption. The three-day workshop for 25 Tamil journalists at Giritale, Polnnaruwa district of North Central Province was cancelled on the first day after threats were made against the hotel owner. Earlier this year, a two-day training course for Tamil journalists organised by Search for Common Ground in the same district was abandoned in January after a group of Buddhist monks interrupted the proceedings.

The FMM said: “It is unreasonable to obstruct media from reporting Rajapaksa’s case when all other court proceedings are open for media. The people’s right to information is a universally guaranteed right and the state does not have any authority to impose censorships in such an arbitrary manner without any valid reason or proper regulation.”

“Both incidents are clear violations of the Sri Lankan people’s constitutional right to information and right to peaceful assembly.”

The IFJ and the FMM call on the Government of Sri Lanka to show its commitment to democratic governance by putting an end to such incidents.

The IFJ said: “Instances of threat and intimidation against journalists by Sri Lanka’s security forces has steadily increased in recent times. Those incidents have deteriorated freedom of expression and weakened democratic governance. We urge the Sri Lankan government to immediately act to stop such activities and allow media to report freely.”

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +61 2 9333 0950 

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries

Find the IFJ on Twitter:@ifjasiapacific

Find the IFJ on Facebook:www.facebook.com/IFJAsiaPacific