Sri Lanka court refuses to test President Maithripala Sirisena's sanit

For more than a month, Sri Lanka drifted without a government as two rivals jostled for the prime ministership and protests rocked the capital Colombo.

 

Sirisena came to power in 2015 in a coalition with Wickremesinghe  |  Photo Credit: IANS

 

Jan 07, 2019

 Lanka: A Sri Lanka court on Monday rejected calls to subject the president to a mental health examination after he sacked a former ally, dissolved parliament and plunged the country into crisis. The Court of Appeal rejected a petition to force Maithripala Sirisena before a panel of psychiatrists to scrutinise his mental state in the wake of the political upheaval in the Indian Ocean island. The turmoil began in October when Sirisena dismissed Sri Lanka's prime minister and dissolved parliament, both decisions later overturned by the country's highest court.

For more than a month, Sri Lanka drifted without a government as two rivals jostled for the prime ministership and protests rocked the capital Colombo. The instability ended peacefully when Sirisena's controversial appointee Mahinda Rajapakse stood down, and the deposed prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe returned to power with the support of parliament.

Mental infirmity is grounds for removing a president if two-thirds of parliament agree, but no party or coalition in the legislature commands such a majority. The two-judge bench of the appeals court said it did not have the jurisdiction to force Sirisena to be examined, and ordered the petitioner pay the state 100,000 rupees ($540) in legal costs.

Sirisena came to power in 2015 in a coalition with Wickremesinghe. But personal differences festered and their alliance imploded in October when Sirisena kicked his former ally out of office.
Wickremesinghe refused to stand down and allow Rajapakse, a former president and divisive war-era strongman, to take his place.

The crisis dragged on for weeks until the Supreme Court denied Rajapakse the right to rule and he bowed out in December. Some factions within Sri Lanka's parliament have pushed for Sirisena to be investigated for orchestrating an alleged coup.  

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President’s Office Seeks to Block Access to PM’s Asset Declaration

(Lanka e News - 07.Jan.2019, 11.00PM)) Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) is disappointed to learn of the decision made by the Presidential Secretariat to appeal against the order issued by the Right to Information Commission (RTIC), directing the disclosure of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s assets and liabilities declaration for 2015/2016. 

TISL’s Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere said, “Given the President’s New Year pledge to fight corruption in 2019 and given the allegations cast against the Prime Minister in late 2018, we are surprised that the President’s Office has sought to block access to the Prime Minister’s Asset Declaration. Having credible self-declared information in the hands of the public is an essential ingredient presently missing in the fight against corruption”.  

The initial applications for the asset declarations of the President and Prime Minister were filed in February 2017. The President’s Office had refused to disclose the information requested, prompting TISL to appeal to the RTIC. In its historic ruling the RTIC underscored that “the RTI Act enables a powerful check to be exercised on even potential corruption, as this would deter those otherwise enticed to amass public wealth for themselves”. 

In our statement following the Commission’s ruling, TISL recognized the right of the Presidential Secretariat to appeal the RTIC’s order.  TISL also highlighted the fact that such a challenge would undermine the President’s stated commitment to transparency and accountability, and the government’s commitment to ensure the public’s right to access asset declarations.  

Obeyesekere added, “as many members of parliament have repeatedly expressed a willingness to unilaterally publish their asset declarations, TISL calls on all elected representatives to proactively disclose their asset declarations to foster a culture of accountability and open government”.

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by     (2019-01-07 18:19:48)

Why followers follow bad leaders

Tuesday, 8 January 2019

 Sirisena. Mahinda Rajapaksa. Ranil Wickremesinghe. We’ve had different leaders with the same unhappy results for decades. At the core of this country’s political gridlock and dysfunction is a failed leadership culture and not a few men jockeying for power.

Our existing model of representative leadership and behavioural conduct urgently needs fixing, as does fast tracking the empowerment of a new generation of leaders in the UNP. And yet we often forget that leadership is also a two-part equation. Followers have their own identity, just as leaders have theirs. In fact, Michael Maccoby, a leadership expert who has advised, taught, and studied the leaders of companies and governments in 36 countries, says: “Followers are as powerfully driven to follow as leaders are to lead.”

To better understand the strength of the bond between leader and led – or the extent to which followers believe they should follow – Geert Hofstede, a social psychologist at IBM, collected and analysed data from over 88,000 employees in 72 countries to ascertain how national culture influenced people’s behaviours in organisations, institutions, and families, as well as their self-concept.

Hofstede developed the now familiar construct of “power distance”, which he defined as “the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations accept and expect [my emphasis] that power is distributed unequally”. In Sri Lanka – which measures 80 on the Hofstede Comparative Power Distance Index and is therefore categorised as a high power distance culture – “people accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and that needs no further justification.”

At work, for example, organisations are characterised by tall pyramids with leaders who are directive in style, instructing their followers on what to do and how to do it, as well as implicitly or explicitly discouraging and/or punishing any questioning of their authority.

But followers also avoid making decisions because they expect to be told what to do; they are obedient, deferential and do not freely express their thoughts, opinions, emotions, doubts or disagreements in the presence of superiors/seniors; when they do, they choose to answer vaguely or indirectly rather than reply with a direct “no”.

“Hierarchy is seen as reflecting inherent inequalities, centralisation is popular, and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat,” says Hofstede.

In Sri Lanka, a high Power Distance score of 80 indicates a culture where hierarchy reflects inherent inequalities, centralisation is popular, and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat. A low score of 35 for Individualism implies a strong collectivist stance that emphasises the “we” and “our” over the “I” and “my”; the culture values followers who fit in and conform by camouflaging their true intentions and deemphasising the self. A low score of 10 for Masculinity signals a lack of assertiveness; status is preserved through social relationships and by avoiding shame and loss of face, rather than material success and individual achievements. The traits best represent mainstream Sinhalese employees and voters.

Research by Meina Liu, a professor of communications at Georgetown University, also helps to explain indirect communication styles in high power distance cultures: she describes, for example, how leaders/superiors/seniors take precedence in seating, eating, walking and speaking, while their followers wait and proceed after them.

Sri Lankan historian Dr/ Michael Roberts has also explored the role of language in reinforcing this leader-follower/superior-subordinate relationship: followers/common people “go” (yanava) whereas leaders (in his example, kings and monks) “proceed” (vadinava), followers/common people “eat” (kanava) while their leaders “dine” (valandadanava).

Of course, examples of top-down leadership exist in every country, but what makes power distance especially relevant to hierarchical cultures like Sri Lanka (as well as Malaysia (100), the Philippines (94), China and Bangladesh (80), Indonesia (78), India (77) and Singapore (74) is the extent to which it is culturally reinforced at all levels of society. (Incidentally, lower power distance cultures – such as the United States (40), United Kingdom and Germany (both 35), Norway and Sweden (both 31), Denmark (18), and Australia (36) and New Zealand (22) – distribute power through decentralised organisations where followers habitually question authority and reject authoritarian leaders).

Let’s take schools. Erin Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, explains how students in Nigeria (which also measures 80 on the Hofstede Comparative Power Distance Index) are highly deferential to teachers both inside and outside the classroom, and kneel before elders as a mark of respect. In sharp contrast, students from Sweden call their teachers by their first names and are expected to openly contradict them in classes. In Nigeria, Sri Lanka and other high power distance cultures, parents are likely to side with teachers to maintain order and the power hierarchy. In Sweden and other low power distance cultures, on the other hand, parents commonly side with students against teachers.

But we need to work back to the first social group we are introduced to in our preschool years – our family – to better understand how we learn to defer, obey and conform.

When Michael Maccoby interviewed managers in Asia, Europe, and North America, he asked interviewees two questions: “What is your view of a good manager, and what is your view of a good father?” The answers were related, but there was a clear distinction between Western and Asian managers.

Americans and Scandinavians viewed good managers and good fathers as people who supported their followers when needed, but generally encouraged them to be independent. By contrast, Asians (who came from traditional families with authoritarian fathers) wanted a father-manager who taught and protected them. In exchange for this, they gave the leader their complete loyalty and obedience. (Asian managers also considered Western leaders to be bad parents who neglected their children’s needs).

These very first leaders – our parents and their parenting style – play a crucial role in influencing our relationships with the superiors and subordinates we subsequently encounter in our lives.
For example, Diana Baumrind, who first developed the concept of parenting style, provides a four-fold typology: indulgent, authoritarian, authoritative, or uninvolved. She describes authoritarian parents (the prevalent type in Sri Lanka and other high power distance cultures) as “obedience- and status-oriented, [who] expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation”; they integrate their children into the family (and later social) whole through a high degree of behavioural control, including the supervision and reinforcement of rules, disciplinary action against disobedience, and by withholding affection and praise.
Largely as a result, children with high dependence needs – or a low independence stance – expect to be instructed or directed by their parents and other authority figures such as teachers and principals. Later in life, as they affiliate with surrogate families and father-figures – organisations, institutions, and groups, as well as CEOs and political leaders – they replicate the same parenting style and once again reinforce submission towards leaders/superiors/seniors: of their children/employees towards them, and themselves towards their leaders.

Much of this, I believe, clarifies the disposition of Sri Lanka’s docile employees towards CEOs and submissive voters towards politicians. It tells us why policemen are incapacitated in the presence of politicians, and why parents and students revere teachers and principals. It helps us understand how the executive presidency endures and why mainstream society is so permissive of hierarchy and authoritarianism. It explains why we lack innovative businesses and brands, and why nothing really ever changes.

Hoftstede’s findings are extremely important because they give us a greater understanding of how a society’s level of inequality is endorsed from below as well as above. In high power distance cultures, followers accept as appropriate and beneficial that power is distributed unequally. In Sri Lanka, leaders don’t serve; they are served.

(The writer is a consultant.)

Politicians are both: The cause and effect of corruption

But families or individuals who choose to resist corruption, end up at the losing end

2019-01-09

“The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.” ~Bess Myerson   A rustle of leaves emanated something beckoning a gentle sigh of an old man. Bending tree trunks and wavy paddy, pregnant with budding grains underneath, were absent. In the distant landscape, the horizon is a blending of shady mountain tops with mighty grey skies; the heavens have released a drape of clouds to obscure what lay behind the mountains. Trees which stood like sentries guarding the hilltops and what lay behind too have been covered by the cascading clouds over the mountaintop.

A breathtaking view of the landscape at dusk could mesmerize many a peasant into a false sense of security. Yet, the solitude that wraps around the whole being at this twilight hour is all-encompassing. In that solitude, Mudiyanse, the peasant, finds an eternally deceptive escape, an escape more akin to a nightmarish journey than to a voyage of discovery of a merry-making life.

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• Rural and rustic populations do not understand the subtleties of political manipulation
• Most of life’s affairs are defined and distinguished between rights and wrongs, moral and immoral or basically, good or bad 

He contemplates about Menika, his wife who is emaciated beyond recognition of her youth; her magnetic eyes and curvy body have all faded into a misty past. His love for her has turned into compassion and tolerance. Putting food on the table has taken priority overindulging in romantic digressions. Yet, the child who was born eleven years ago is healthy and growing to be a handsome adolescent. Curious about his surroundings and cognizant of the family’s hard times, Keerthi, the child, is showing signs of maturity ahead of his years. He, unlike his peers in school, has not demanded a smartphone from his parents; he knows that his father cannot afford to buy unnecessary tools of youth. Keerthi’s academic potential seems to exceed his demands for mundane possessions.
Mudiyanse, at the expiration of a hard day’s labour on his paddy lot, given to him when his ancestral land in Kotmale went under the mighty waters of the Mahaweli River years ago, collected his tools, the empty canvas bag- his lunch box- and began trekking down the sandy path towards his homestead.

Uprooted from the cool climes of the Hill Country, the soothing Kotmale that is surrounded by the splendour of foliage and protected from a hard and an unkind sun, he and his Menika rose up daily to the songs of a variety of birds; went about their chores in a routine way, dreaming of a better tomorrow. That is all in the past.

That homestead is now under water. Dwelling in that past, as Mudiyanse has been telling himself- of course not in the company of his sweetheart- is of no use; its tormenting memory is more of a memory unto itself now.

Yet, when they travelled from Kotmale to Welikanda, a locality that was created anew out of the sand and woods, a desolate stretch of jungle in the arid zone, had taken its toll.

Mudiyanse is totally ignorant of complexities of malfeasance on the part of the Executive;his only political awareness is limited to the actual voting on the day of the polling; yet his expectations from the Resident Project Manager’s (RPM’s) office in his zone are many but he knows that travelling to that office would cost him one whole day’s work on his field.

He has no help other than his wife who is already overworked with cooking, managing the homestead and taking care of Keerthi, his son’s Grade 6 homework. Albeit Menika’s limited education, her education is sufficient to help her son with his homework, at least for now.

Mudiyanse’s daily chores exceed those of an ordinary city-dwelling executive. Being a self-employed farmer- now turned into a status of a peasant- his first priority is to keep his precious family from starvation and providing for his only son, Keerthi, an education that embraces and absorbs the fast-developing technological revolution that is taking the world by storm. Is this a realistic goal for a mere peasant living hundreds of miles away from the high-rise buildings in Colombo?

That question can only be answered by Mudiyanse, Menika and Keerthi themselves.

There is absolutely no chance whatsoever for them if they succumb to the current culture of corruption and bribery. Their destiny largely, if not solely, depends on their own will; a will to carve out and shape a destiny of their own, free of the surrounding evil of politics. Keerthi’s future is susceptible to vagaries of the prevailing socio-political dynamic, a dynamic so intrinsically nasty and irrevocably offensive.

On the one hand, in the political theatre, from the Pradeshiya Sabha member up to the Member of Parliament and the Minister in the district are so blatantly corrupt; on the other hand, the Kaaryala Kaarya Sahaayaka (KKS) in the District Secretary’s Office to the highest-ranking government bureaucrat is chanting their daily narrative of provision of Government subsidies for the poorest of the poor, but hidden behind that narrative is another cruel and corrupt meaning.

What lies behind that narrative is over-dependence on Government handouts.

In The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky writes:

“There is nothing more alluring to a man than freedom of conscience, but neither is there anything more agonizing.”

The agonizing conscience of Mudiyanse does not allow him to bribe any politico and/or any servant of the State to get his matters acceded to or expedited. Yet, he is compelled to take Government handouts and subsidies for granted, thereby fallen victim to this ever-weaving web of entitlement syndrome.

Neither Mudiyanse nor his wife, understands the subtleties of political manipulation. For most of life’s affairs are defined and distinguished between rights and wrongs, moral and immoral or basically, good or bad.

Their religious devotion to the teachings of the Great One, The Buddha, is unbreakable and passed down from generations of aeons ago. The inspiring life of the Buddha, although the likes of mundane Mudiyanse and his family are not qualified to imitate, has been immeasurably responsible for framing and sharpening of major decisions relating to their simple lives.

Their lives are simple yet their thinking is not simple as is evidently found in the salivating minds of most of our ill-educated politicians.

Their faithfulness to Buddhism is much more profound than the offering of pooja to Kataragama or partaking in a monthly Sil programme at the village temple.

Blessed with an exceedingly patient disposition, Mudiyanse and Menika have passed down that patience and sense of tolerance to their only child, Keerthi. They have collectively, as one family, chosen to live their lives within the confines of decency and morality.

That sense of decency and morality has no price, yet it has enormous value. They cannot mortgage that sense of decency and morality to a bank and borrow money; but when it comes to crunch time when a friend or foe is found in trouble, they will lend their mite without being judgmental.

Such values have no place in the village crossroads; they have no corner in the minds of the majority of those who inhabit the same settlement zone. When that quality of patience and accommodation flees the mundane mind, those who possess the contra pressures, pressures that have been impacting their daily behaviour, their daily thinking pattern and their daily responses to diverse problems they encounter, they react in a totally irrational fashion. That reaction may not have any substantive basis on religion and faith, yet could have incalculable consequences.

Interfamily transactions of a piece of homestead, unauthorized diversion of field-channel waters, theft of fertilizer that is given as a subsidy to all farmers/peasants, all these could be sources of these intra-societal confrontations.

The real consequences of those conflicts could be long-lasting and maybe for generations, yet these issues would ultimately fashion and sharpen their characters. That is where parental pressures could bear upon their children.

Breed matters in shaping one’s character, maybe not totally, but substantially. Patience and tolerance of others are not Kotmale values, they are not Sinhalese or Tamil values, nor are they rich of poor values, they are human values, values that parents pass down to their children as their, parents’ legacy.

Keerthi, Mudiyanse’s son is fortunate to be born into a family that has faith in such human values such as patience, compassion, empathy and unlimited faith in the ‘spirit of man’.
Such families resist the corruption of politicians who are both the cause and effect of corruption. But families or individuals who choose to resist corruption, more often than not, end up at the losing end. Such cruel irony is heartbreaking, not only for the individual or family in question but more so for the social fabric that surrounds them.

Battered by circumstances beyond his control and disenchanted with the status quo, Mudiyanse and family trek on an unfriendly and endless path; that path may not lead to a thirst-quenching oasis, but at least to a gentler and more receptive pool of opinion yet tolerant of the other side.

On the one hand is the politician with a friendly smile but vicious intention and on the other, Mudiyanse and family with a grim countenance and forlorn hope. The vicious circle of life is unending.

The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com 

Emil Ranjan further remanded till January 22

Shavini Madhara-Tuesday, January 8, 2019

When the magisterial inquiry into the Welikada Prison riot in 2012 was taken up before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s court, Attorney-at-law Senaka Perera appearing on behalf of the aggrieved party informed the court that defendant Former Prisons Commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewa had threatened to Journalist Kasun Pussewela.

Attorney-at-law Senaka Perera also stated that Kasun Puswella had lodged a complaint regarding this threatened incident to the National authority of Assisting and Protecting Victims of Crime and Witnesses and Criminal Investigations department.

Attorney-at-law Perera further stated that Inspector Neomal Rangajeewa has been acting in an intimidiating manner towards Journalist Kasun Puswella on social media.

Former Prisons Commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewa who was arrested in connection to the Welikada Prison riot in 2012, was today ordered to be further remanded till January 22 by Colombo Additional Magistrate Isuru Neththikumara.

Criminal Investigations Department submitted a further report before the court.
                                                       
Inspector Neomal Rangajeewa of the Police Narcotics Bureau is on bail in this case. On September 25, the Court of Appeal ordered Rangajeewa’s release on bail taking a revision application filed by him into consideration.

Rangajeewa and Lamahewa were arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on March 28 in connection with the Welikada Prison riot in 2012.

After considering all the matters, the Magistrate ordered the CID to commence an investigation regarding the threatened incident and submit the investigations progress on next calling date.

CID also stated that investigations are still ongoing. CID further stated the government analyst report into the weapons had not been received yet.

Twenty-seven inmates were killed and more than 20 others injured in deadly shooting during the riot on November 9, 2012, when prisoners took control of the populated prison, objecting to an unannounced search by the Special Task Force to nab hidden arms, drugs and mobile phones at the prison.

The Attorney-at-law Sanjaya Gamage appeared on behalf of the Former Prisons Commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewa pleaded his client be granted bail.

The Magistrate also ordered the Inspector of the Police Narcotics Bureau Neomal Rangajeewa to appear before the court on January 22.

Lasantha Murder Not Solved; Conspiracy To Assassinate Sirisena Changes Government

By Suranimala Umagiliya –JANUARY 8, 2019

President Maithripala Sirisena must have bats in his belfry whilst former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his infamous brother the former Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa are strutting about oblivious to the carnage left in their wake. Three of them yet dream of continued power at the highest echelons, as if leading Sri Lanka is their divine right.

On 12 January 2009, a short distance away from the entrance to the Borella General Cemetery

Current President created havoc when he sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, prorogued parliament, and then dissolved only to be thwarted by a resilient Supreme Court. The defining reason for such action trotted out by President Sirisena was a conspiracy to assassinate him, leaked by an informant best described as possessing a low level of cunning which he mistook for a high level of intelligence. He is now known to be backed by a dubious past, may even have contrived this as part of a master plan. Best laid plans of a President and mice fortunately went awry.

If President Sirisena believed that there was an attempt at his life and his resultant action to sack a Prime Minister, a Cabinet of Ministers and dissolve parliament was justified, it poses more questions than one. Let us assume if indeed there was such a conspiracy to assassinate him and the action he took was justified, however skewed it may sound. Can any sane person accept his covering up (not a conspiracy, not an attempt) a murder most foul? If a DIG is remanded as part of such investigation (attempt on his life) why are not the Army Intelligence personnel involved in the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge, assault and torture of Keith Noyahr and the assault on Upali Tennekoonremanded? Why is the former IGP Jayantha Wickremaratne not remanded for meddling with the evidence into Lasantha Wickrematunge’s murder?

Evidence led into the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge at the Mt Lavinia Magistrate’s Court reveals that it was a rogue Army Intelligence Unit housed at the former Tripoli Market who carried out the murder as well as the attacks on journalists. This unit was under Major Gen. Amal Karunasekera and operationally under Major Prabath Bulathwatte. Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka, who was the sitting Army Commander at the time when these dastardly crimes took place has made a statement to the Police that this unit was directly under Gotabaya Rajapaksa via Retd Maj Gen. Kapila Hendavitharne himself, the former Intel Chief.

President Maithripala Sirisena must be able to sift the wheat from the chaff. The President and the Army Commander will do well to shed those who have shamed them by resorting to extra judicial killing, torture and assault to safeguard the honour of the rest. The tag “War Hero” will forever be tainted if the present tendency to cover up such misdeeds due to misguided thinking that it is politically harmful remains. If that is the thinking of the majority of Sinhala/Buddhists, the enlightened one’s preaching has been sorely misunderstood.

Be that as it may, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa have yet to retire in shame. They entertain serious thoughts of a return to an extended reign. If a human being has no “lajja” he/she will have no respect for morals, the law or right to life of another. The two brothers must know that the finger pointed at them when Sri Lanka was named and shamed as the worst country to practice journalism. Gotabaya drunk with power, drove the last nail in his infamous interview with the BBC and Hard Talk when in a show of arrogance he snorted “Who is Lasantha?”

Ten years have drifted with none indicted for the murder of Lasantha. There was speculation that Ranil did not wish to see the Rajapaksa duo taken to task as it was to his advantage to play them against a divided SLFP vote bank. That sentiment does not hold any more. The last Provincial Council election results have effectively cancelled such eventuality. Presently President Sirisena has grandiose ideas of contesting the top job once more. This time with his arch rival at the last hustings now turned Ace of Trumps. No “lajja”.

There seem to be a semblance of hope amidst the doom and gloom. The independent Commissions have proven themselves. The people rebelled against Sirisena- Rajapaksa back door shenanigans. The UNP has been given a new lease not due to a great showing at governance but due to fortuitous circumstances. Therefore Ranil will do well to brush aside Sirisena’s protestations and get the investigators to complete the job. This is not to save his future but to make use of the current mood of the people to do the right thing. Lasantha murder, Thajudeen murder, Murder of Journalists in the North, Keith Noyahr abduction, torture and assault, Upali Tennekoon assault must be solved and perpetrators brought to book. The discovery of human remains in Mannar CWE site is another blot on the character of our nation. Evidence is unfolding that this may not be a grave yard for the dear departed.

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Who has Lassie’s blood on their hands?

In some ways, Keith Noyahr’s abduction and assault in May 2008 was the harbinger of the more brutal crime that was to follow. At the time of his abduction, Keith Noyahr was the most senior journalist to be attacked during that dark era for press freedom in Sri Lanka. That dubious honour was claimed by his friend ‘Lassie’ eight months later. Lasantha Wickrematunge and Noyahr were once colleagues at the Sunday Times. Both were acclaimed journalists. Both were hunted for their defiant writing in an oppressive climate for professional journalists. A decade later, investigators have found a thread running through both these attacks, connecting assailants in both cases to a shadowy military intelligence unit operating out of the Tripoli army camp, part of a sinister operation to silence dissenting voices during the height of the war. As Sri Lanka’s media fraternity marks the 10th Anniversary of Lasantha Wickrematunge’s assassination on January 8, Keith Noyahr, picks up his journalistic pen after 11 long years living in exile to write this tribute to his colleague Lasantha, fallen in the line of duty

BY KEITH NOYAHR-6 January, 2019

After a decade of hibernation, I wish to break my journalistic silence with a salute to the media giant of our time, Lasantha Wickrematunge– on his 10th death anniversary.

Months before his death, Lasantha sent word to me through a mutual friend Krishantha Cooray, “to open up now that I am safe in Australia”. I did not heed his call as I felt the time was not right and my inner wounds from torture were still fresh.

My friend, colleague and later competitor, Lassie, as he was fondly known, was butchered in broad daylight on January 8, 2009, in a manner that could be likened to the Hobbesian take on state of nature– “nasty, brutish and short”.

Lasantha was alive to his impending death.The timing, he reckoned, would be once a rebel stronghold fell and a military victory was in the offing. News of Elephant Pass falling was held back until the dastardly act of his assassins was carried out with impunity. The murder most foul was drowned in the euphoria of military success.

You can’t keep a good man down. Lassie, even in death, your words resonated far and wide as your famed editorial immortalised you. A swag of international awards was conferred upon you posthumously.


To restrict Lasantha’s courageous journalism to the Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency would not do justice to the man who was a thorn in the flesh of Presidents Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranasinghe Premadasa. A sneak peek into these eras though would suffice.

Rajapaksa defeated on death anniversary

Six years to the date of his untimely death on January 8, 2015, the invincible President Mahinda Rajapaksa was soundly defeated before the court of the people by a lesser-known and not so charismatic candidate, Maithripala Sirisena.

Call it Karma, retribution, or by any other name, even Rajapaksa was dumbfounded by the outcome after successfully tweaking the Constitution to force a third term.

The presidential rout was a classic case of David defeating Goliath, given that previously the strongman defeated the wartime General Sarath Fonseka, with both candidates basking in military glory.


After being convincingly defeated by the people, Rajapaksa recently wreaked havoc in the country by inveigling the President to appoint him Prime Minister, dissolve Parliament and call elections. Of course, the first move was made by Sirisena who needed Rajapaksa’s support for the next presidential elections as the Government’s popularity waned.

General Elections were called for January 9, 2019, with the campaign set to end on the 10th death anniversary of the journalist. But that was not to be. Rather than rolling in his grave, Lassie would have looked down with a smirk only to see one blunder after another in the pursuit of power by the power-hungry.

Lassie would be all smiles as the judiciary returned a unanimous decision and the courts refused to bow to the veiled threats and cacophony of voices. Retributive justice precluded undemocratic efforts to capitalise on recent local electoral wins, with the gains reversed.

How true is the age-old adage, “What you sow, you reap”.

In hindsight, shooting the messenger or attempting to do so is the biggest mistake in a democracy.
Lasantha Wickrematunga and a few other journalists starting from Richard De Soysa paid with their lives, and the bereaved bore the brunt; others like myself who were abducted and tortured were scarred for life.

Children emotionally scarred

In her own words, Lasantha’s daughter Ahimsa says her father’s brutal slaying has scarred her emotionally. I know Ahimsa, Avinash and Aadesh what you’ve been through as my son and daughter have suffered similar inner wounds that are often re-opened, with justice still far off.

I just don’t get it. Why were we hounded in the first place? Is it for doing our jobs conscientiously – in a democratic state???

“What did Lasantha do that deserved such a punishment?

In the words of veteran journalist D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Lasantha was,“The fearless editor of The Sunday Leader (who) fought valiantly against overwhelming odds to expose corruption, nepotism, misgovernance, racism and militaristic triumphalism.”

For others, Lasantha was foolhardy; he lacked restraint and was trammelled by political ties.

Yes, he dabbled in politics. Lasantha contested on the SLFP ticket and was Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s Private Secretary; he backed SLFP presidential candidate Hector Kobbekaduwa; he supported Anura over Chandrika, Gamini over Ranil and the list goes on. In the US, newspapers endorsed candidates, and Lassie openly displayed who he backed.

For Lasantha, it was nothing but his conscience that prodded him on to do what he did. His pen was far mightier than the collective swords brandished at him from time to time by presidents and governments of all hues.

His philosophy: publish and be damned, and even destroyed.

Lassie you cared not for your safety, but discharged your duties diligently for a higher cause, and for this I salute you, mate.

And even if he cared less for himself, his three children meant a world to him. He doted on them, and even after separation, he would fly all the way to Australia to spend time with them. My memory goes back to the time he would carry two of his children in his arms as he dropped by at the Sunday Times to pick wife Raine and deliver his column Suranimala that shot him to fame. More on that later.
Undeterred Lassie soldiered on

Fast forward to the glory days of The Sunday Leader, where he made bombshell revelations, week after week, spanning several governments, including that of Chandrika Kumaratunga, who openly attacked him. Undeterred by the acts of violence unleashed on him, his family and newspaper, not to mention being arraigned before court, he soldiered on.

Days before his death, he posed the rhetorical question editorially: “Is it worth the risk?” “Many people tell me it is not.”

“But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience.”

He went to his death to save the country that was plundered left, right and centre, with nepotism the order of the day and despotism the name of the game.

I salute you Lassie for taking on the powers that be in such a brazen way in your inimical style and true to your newspaper’s motto, “Unbowed and Unafraid”.

Lasantha was a person who could not be won over, coaxed, stifled, terrorised or bought over.

At the Leader, proprietor pressure was minimum as his brother Lal Wickrematunge was at the helm. Advertising interests were not so sacrosanct as in most other media companies. Drying up of sources was his least worry as he had a steady flow of information. In sum, it was the perfect recipe for the brand of journalism he practised and the racy style that endeared many readers.

He was the epitome of courageous journalism, and served as a check and balance on the unfettered powers of the Presidency. All but one Executive President – D.B.Wijetunga – have acted like fascists or constitutional dictators to varying degrees during the hybrid Executive Presidency that has been around for 40 years, after a parliamentary form of government lasted 30 years since independence.
In the seven decades of post-independence history, the country’s press freedom and human rights record hit a nadir at the time Lasantha was assassinated. (Sri Lanka was ranked 165th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders) 2015 Press Freedom Index). Even his detractors would grant that Lasantha was martyred for, among other things, upholding human rights.

San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero spoke out against poverty, social justice, assassinations, and torture in El Salvador and was martyred on March 24 1980. Three decades later, in 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 24 as the “International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims”.

Red-letter day in journalism

It would be appropriate to mark January 8 as a red-letter day in the history of journalism in the country, for this courageous soul paid with his life to curb corruption, end nepotism and prevent human rights abuses. January 8 also marked a victory for the people of Sri Lanka that ended a dictatorship and opened the doors to clip unfettered presidential powers, after a debate was ignited in the early 90s.

The constitutional crisis created on a bid to impeach President Ranasinghe Premadasa brought on this debate. During the Premadasa regime, information was hard to come, and Lasantha’s Suranimala column grew in popularity as it had ball-by-ball commentaries of government action with juicy details that added credibility.The column was controversial and not to the liking of the President. The bombshell column on Cabinet appointments in the light of astrology paved the way for the founding editor Vijitha Yapa to resign. Undeterred, Lassie continued his juicy and fiery columns for the Sunday Times in the interim and during Sinha Ratnatunga’s stewardship as editor during an era fraught with danger. Right through the crisis, and the resultant UNP split and DUNF formation, several journalists lived dangerously.

Premadasa was assassinated on May 1, 1993. It took a long time for the news to sink in even after the President’s Media Secretary Evans Cooray called me to break the earth-shattering news and I wrote the lead story for the Times titled, “The President is dead”. I had the same feeling when Rajapaksa was defeated electorally. Both Presidents were larger than life and too overbearing to come to grips with their absence. Kumaratunga missed death by a hair’s breadth.

Richard was assassinated during the Premadasa presidency, D. Sivaram (Taraki) was killed during the Kumaratunga presidency, but Lasantha lived to fight another day, and fight he did as he moved on to launch the Sunday Leader.

By that time, I had left the Sunday Times and was working for the Associated Press (AP). Sinha asked me whether I would like to handle the investigations desk or do a defence column at the Times. When some quarters doubted that Lasantha could run a newspaper and do a political column, I begged to differ. Lasantha’s energy and efficiency, commitment and capabilities, and his single-minded pursuit of his goals convinced me that he is up to the task, and Lassie delivered in spades.

Nation, Leader fold up

The Leader made ripples in no time and became a household name. It is sad that the paper Lasantha nurtured so painstakingly for 15 long years had to fold up. His newly wed wife Sonali Samarasinghe served as editor in exile for a brief period, and Frederica Jansz, who lived dangerously while trying to keep the flag flying as editor, was forced to flee in the face of death threats – long after the war ended and national security was not at stake.

The Nation, which also made ripples in two years, pre-empted the Leader in its demise under similar conditions. After my abduction and torture over a controversial defence column I wrote, the founding editor Lalith Allahakkoon and Company CEO Krishantha Cooray were unceremoniously removed.

The sister paper, the Bottom Line, edited by Nisthar Cassim, was expected to be the precursor for the Nation’s daily. That too died a natural death. Just before these tumultuous events, power-hungry politicians had a hand in purchasing controlling shares of the newspaper. I suspect a similar modus operandi was adopted for the Leader, which was on a sticky financial wicket, minus its backbone.There would have been few takers for fear of reprisals.

Lasantha went to his eternal home after doing a full circle in the print media, cutting his teeth at the now defunct Independent Newspapers, then joining the Island and moving on to the Sunday Times before he founded The Sunday Leader. After a brief but successful legal career, Lasantha took to journalism, and took it to a whole new level, raising the bar to dizzy heights.

On a lighter note, especially, during the Sunday Times days, I enjoyed Lassie’s company, playing chess and engaging in animated political discussions. I also played cricket alongside him on the Sunday Times’ team against the Island and other sides. He had a good sense of humour and would love a joke, even at my expense. He was my senior, but was never condescending, and forged a friendship in respect.

On burning issues, Lasantha would argue his case in print and TV in the most persuasive way, but in private would admit his shortcomings. He always confused “been” with “being” and admitted to not understanding the usage. Never mind Lassie, the important thing is you were a unique being, a divinely planted messenger whose life was cut short in cold-blooded fashion. May you rest in peace!

At a critical point in history, you were the fearless actor on the media stage who performed your role admirably and bowed out with a face smeared in blood. But, the million-dollar question is: Who has Lassie’s blood on their hands? 

Standing for unpopular causes: Ten years on

RAISA WICKREMATUNGE- 01/08/2019

The first thing to catch my eye in Sandya Eknaligoda’s home was a comic book. It was an illustrated copy of Sherlock Holmes. Peeking out underneath was a leaflet bearing a familiar face – disappeared journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.

The image was immediately poignant. I raised my camera and snapped a photo.

Tacked to the walls around us were posters, each marking a milestone in Sandya’s long, tireless struggle for answers about her husband’s disappearance. Prageeth smiled down at us from the walls, with a phone clamped to his ear. Holding his then young son. The overwhelming sensation I had was of a life that had been paused indefinitely.

It was a sensation I recognised.

Later on, as Sandya spoke about the many journalists whose deaths remained unresolved, I felt a jolt when she mentioned my Uncle’s (or Baappi, as my sister and I called him) name.

A few days later, walking into the Sunday Thinnakkural office to interview Editor Bharathi Rajanayagam, I felt a jolt when I saw, pinned to the notice board behind him, a poster featuring Baappi’s face.

It may sound naive to say this, but I had not expected to hear Baappi’s name. I was forever forgetting that he was a public figure – one whose smiling face appeared on billboards.

To me, Baappi was the person who always announced his arrival with a resounding yell that echoed through the house. Whose first stop was usually the kitchen, where he would poke his finger into whatever was bubbling on the stove.

Pinned next to Baappi’s face at the Sunday Thinnakkural was another’s. I had never heard his name before – Mylvaganam Nimalarajan. Bharathi would mention his name when speaking about the killings of Tamil journalists, which to date remain unresolved.

Later on, while writing the story that would eventually appear on Groundviews, I felt a pang of guilt that both Sandya and Bharathi should remember and speak up for Baappi, while I had never stopped to think of the names they mentioned. (indeed, I had never even heard some of the Tamil journalist’s names).

Each year on January 8, there is a memorial held at Baappi’s graveside. Until recently, I had never spoken at these services. I was afraid of breaking down while speaking, and in that state, fodder for peurile news bulletins.

For the first time, I understood what it felt like to be on the other side of the lens.

But as I continued working at Groundviews, I witnessed many acts of courage.

I watched as Sandya spoke at events again and again, pleading for answers on her husband’s disappearance. On January 4 last year, I read on Vikalpa how she had relentlessly pursued a contempt of court case against Gnanasara Thero after he whispered hateful words at her in open court, despite immense pressure.

In 2017, I met the families of the disappeared in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya who had been protesting day and night by the roadside, for two months.

I sat with families in Mullikulam protesting for the right to return to their homes. I listened to women from Mannar and Mullaitivu speak of the violence they had faced, with immense courage.

I was inspired by these, and countless other stories.

And in the end, these words from that final, well-known editorial,

“We have espoused unpopular causes, stood up for those too feeble to stand up for themselves, locked horns with the high and mighty so swollen with power that they have forgotten their roots, exposed corruption and the waste of your hard-earned tax rupees, and made sure that whatever the propaganda of the day, you were allowed to hear a contrary view.”

This sentence encapsulates principles Baappi firmly believed in. He spoke up often for “unpopular causes”.

He paid for his outspokenness dearly. And yet, I know he would never have chosen silence.

Last year, when I was asked to speak at the memorial, I finally said yes.

This year, there will be 19 cards placed at the graveside. 19 names. Nineteen families who feel the same electric jolt when the names of those absent are spoken. Baappi’s case is called emblematic, but the pain and loss from life cut suddenly and brutally short, is the same.

As much as Baappi relished being in the limelight, I know that he would approve.

And we owe it to his memory to keep standing for unpopular causes. Especially now.

The prolonged wait for justice and for political leadership

By Jehan Perera-January 7, 2019, 9:25 pm 

The failure of public opinion to function in a manner that considers all sections of society equitably can be seen in the matter of journalists who have been victims of human rights violations. There was a time when Sri Lanka was known to be one of the most dangerous places for journalists to work. Today the situation has changed significantly so that Sri Lanka is described as the best destination for international tourists to visit. That change occurred four years ago with the change of government. But ironically, all the perpetrators of the crimes against journalists remain at large.

Most of those journalists who became victims and lost their lives or had their human rights violated seriously were Tamil journalists. These included Nimalarajan who worked for BBC and Sivaram who was one of the country’s best politico-military commentators. But today their names are not in the forefront when it comes to issues of justice for journalists who became victims of human rights violations. This is because their families, friends and colleagues do not feel strong enough to publicly campaign for them. It is also because of the prejudice that they may have been supporters of Tamil separatism.

Unfortunately, the quest for justice for victims of human rights violations is driven not by the law enforcement mechanisms in the country, but by the relatives, friends and colleagues of the victims. They are the ones who are willing to take risks and pay the price for asking for justice. This is seen in the continuing protests and demonstrations by families of the missing for their loved ones. Whereas the families of the missing count in the tens of thousands, the families of media personnel who were killed or suffered human rights violations are in the few dozens. Those who would wish justice for journalists often do not have the strength of numbers.

In the media field, Lasantha Wickremetunge and Prageeth Ekneligoda are the names most frequently mentioned. In the case of Ekneligoda it has been his wife Sandhya, who has had to brave various harassments, including death threats, attacks on social media and even having nationalist groups attend court hearings to intimidate her.

IMPUNITY’S SYMBOL

The assassination of Lasantha Wickremetunge who was slain in broad daylight in the vicinity of a security forces base remains an unsolved crime ten years after his death. There are strong suspicions that the perpetrators of the crime were from the security forces. At the time of his assassination and continuing today the suspicion is that the killing was also connected to the government of that time. Therefore, Wickremetunge’s killing became a symbol of the impunity that prevailed during that time when the war was coming to an end and the bloodiest period was about to begin. Wickremetunga was a high profile editor and one of the best known journalists of that time. His family, friends and colleagues continue to gather at his grave to remember him and the injustice that continues with his assassins remaining at liberty.

The end of the war did not bring the period of impunity to an end. Instead it saw the rise of an ideology that gave to national security the first place. A securitization mindset began to take hold in which it was seen as necessary to prepare for a new war in order to prevent it from happening. In that context, those who dissented became seen as enemies of the state and liable to be eliminated. Journalists were amongst those who fell victim to this mindset. One of the pledges made by the government at the UN Human Rights Council in October 2015 was to investigate these acts of media suppression and human rights violations and to hold to account those who had been the perpetrators.

During the past four years since the change of government, several investigations have taken place regarding the crimes committed against journalists and others. The most prominent of the media cases are those against Wickremetunge, Ekneligoda and Keith Noyahr and Upali Tennekoon, two other senior editors. However, all of these cases appear to have got stalled. They do not progress beyond a point. The police investigations have led to the identification of some of those who played a direct part in the commission of those crimes. However, there has been resistance from within the governmental system most notably the defence authorities and security forces to cooperating fully in the investigations. This needs to change.

PRESIDENT’S CHOICE

The principles of good governance and the examples of more peaceful and democratic countries is that every single life is important and no one is above the law. Until these principles are entrenched in society there will be no opportunity for Sri Lanka to put its violent past behind it. But making matters difficult, President Maithripala Sirisena has made it known on many occasions that he is against the prosecution of members of the security forces for war crimes and human rights violations without adequate evidence. The problem is that his stance then emboldens the security forces to resist cooperating in such investigations and weakens the will of the investigating authorities to push through with their investigations.

The recent takeover of the former Ministry of Law and Order and the police department that was under its purview by President Maithipala Sirisena is not a positive indication that the situation will improve in the near future. The president’s supporters have sought to justify his takeover of the police and putting it into the defence ministry as due to his concern about an assassination plot against him. There are doubts growing about the veracity of this claim, as the chief witness in the alleged assassination plot is being seen to have a checkered past which is being disclosed by the ongoing police investigations. In addition, the president’s new alliance with the former president and members of the former government are also indicators that he will not wish to put his new allies in trouble, regardless of whether they are perpetrators or not.

There are two challenges that Sri Lanka and its civil society needs to address. The first is widen the band of moderates and to create a large enough number of opinion formers who are able to transcend the narrow boundaries of ethnicity, religion and social class, and to value every citizen’s life as being of equal value. The second is to develop a system of law enforcement that is strong enough to ensure that no one is above the law and putting an end to reliance on political patronage. It is an unfortunate reality that Sri Lankan politicians see governance in terms of outmaneuvering their opponents by using the law selectively on their opponents but not on their allies. What the country needs instead are politicians who will explain matters to the people, win their confidence and do the right thing so that justice and not cover ups prevail.

SRI LANKA SLAYING ANNIVERSARY HIGHLIGHTS HUNT FOR JUSTICE

08/01/2019

Ten years after top newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was killed by a suspected government death squad the failure to secure a prosecution has come to highlight Sri Lanka’s struggle with a dark past.

Just days before he was due to give evidence against the brother of the country’s then strongman leader Mahinda Rajapakse, two assailants on motorcycles blocked the car of the 50-year-old editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper before smashing the windows and stabbing him in the head.

The assassination is one of many unresolved killings of journalists carried out during Rajapakse’s decade in power — which also saw a 37-year conflict with Tamil separatists brought to a brutal conclusion, raising other ugly, unanswered questions.

Journalists and relatives will hold a vigil at Wickrematunge’s grave on Tuesday, to put a new spotlight on the case that drew US-led condemnation.

“Lasantha’s case attracted international attention, his killing was condemned globally, but we have not been able to secure justice yet,” Free Media Movement (FMM) spokesman C. Dodawatte told AFP.

“We want to use the tenth death anniversary to step up a campaign for justice for the dozens of journalists killed in the past two decades,” Dodawatte added.

Litany of sabotage 

Before his death Wickrematunge — who endured years of harassment and intimidation for his work — had uncovered corruption in a multi-million dollar purchase of second-hand MiG planes from Ukraine implicating Rajapakse’s brother Gotabhaya, a top defence ministry official at the time.

Critics say the investigation into the killing has been a litany of deliberate sabotage and misdirection.

A doctor who performed the first autopsy reported that Wickrematunge was shot dead. But a second examination after the body was exhumed in September 2016 said he had been fatally stabbed in the head.

Furthermore, a deputy inspector-general of police who was initially in charge of the case was arrested for trying to destroy evidence before being released on bail, while the then-head of military intelligence was taken into custody for his alleged involvement in the killing.

Possible breakthrough 

After Rajapakse lost a 2015 election, a breakthrough in the case saw investigators inform a court that army spies had been responsible for Wickrematunge’s killing.

A former army commander accused Gotabhaya in court of running a secret unit used to target journalists and dissidents during his brother’s presidency.

Gotabhaya has denied any link to the killings and remains under investigation for corruption related to the MiG deal.

Rajapakse staged a brief return to office last year amid a power struggle between the president and prime minister.

Shortly after his return, the lead investigator in the Wickrematunge case was transferred, sparking alarm among rights groups.

As the crisis dragged on, Amnesty said in November it was concerned about the “seeming interference by the authorities” into investigations into attacks on journalists and human rights violations during the civil war.

“Justice in these cases is long overdue,” it added.

Following widespread protests, President Maithripala Sirisena restored the investigator and Rajapakse was forced out of office.

Worth a killing’

In a letter released to the media ahead of the anniversary of her father’s death, Wickrematunge’s daughter Ahimsa, who lives in Australia, said she had full confidence in the investigators.

But she doubted whether they would be allowed to do their job given Sirisena’s new political alliance with Rajapakse.

“It becomes clearer by the day that covering up the truth of the MiG deal was literally worth a killing,” she said.

Sirisena came to power in 2015 promising accountability for atrocities during the Tamil war as well as to reopen the investigations of media murders under the Rajapakse regime. Activists say he has failed to deliver.

Four months after Wickrematunge’s murder, Sri Lanka’s 37-year-long Tamil separatist war came to a bloody end. The rebel leadership was wiped out while some 40,000 Tamil civilians were also killed in the final months of fighting.

Successive Sri Lankan governments have resisted international calls for independent investigations.
France 24.

After A Decade Of Lies, One Truth Still Shines: Lasantha Spoke Truth To Power

By Rohan Jayasekera –JANUARY 8, 2019

Rohan Jayasekera

Ten years ago today assassins on motorbikes forced Lasantha Wickrematunge’s car off a busy street in a Colombo suburb. From what we have been told since, all we long-standing international observers can really say confidently, even now, is that he died of his injuries in a local hospital a few hours later.

For all who believe in the rule of law and a peaceful future for a democratic Sri Lanka, everything else is clouded by obfuscation, implausible denials, half-truths, flat-out lies and it must be said – ‘fake news’.

He was shot, but there were apparently contradictory autopsy reports. One killer, or two, or maybe eight? Military-grade automatic weapons, or clubs and iron bars? Or not. Scores of eyewitnesses, or none. And suspects, suspects, suspects. Men named, shamed, accused, charged, released – or who just died in custody, in deeply unexplained circumstances. A well-publicised link to military intelligence that led nowhere in particular.

More ‘alleged’ conspirators than you could shake a stick at. Big fishes and small ones. Libel actions, investigations, incomplete evidence. Statements provided, later withdrawn, or repudiated or supposedly disproved. There were bizarre rumours of espionage and corruption. Of vengeful ‘frenemies’ in high places, drawn from Sri Lanka’s brigades of the shamelessly rich and powerful, enthralled by the man’s private charm, but exasperated by his public words.

Lasantha took a wry view of the lead up to his own death. He prepared for it by writing an editorial for publication post mortem. It was duly run three days after his assassination, in the media at home and worldwide. “Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened, and killed,” he wrote. “It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.”

For us, as international campaigners for media freedoms, it was possible to take a clearer, simpler view. There was no question for us that Lasantha belonged to another select category – the man who spoke truth to power.

Wickrematunge was placed on Amnesty International’s threatened list in 1998, when anti-tank shells were fired on his house. He remained on that list until his violent end. He was the inaugural winner of Transparency International’s Integrity Award in 2000, and awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Award in 2009. The same year he was posthumously awarded the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, and the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award at Washington’s National Press Club.

The global view is that Lasantha’s killers must be brought to justice, and that there can be no statute of limitations on the crime. It’s part of a continuing worldwide crisis of impunity, repeatedly illustrated by years of similar extra-judicial state-sponsored assassinations, most recently by the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

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