Sri Lanka: media worker summoned over Facebook post
Event- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Nov 8, 2022
- Event Description
On 8 November 2022, Sri Lankan journalist, media rights campaigner and human rights defender Tharindu Jayawardhana received a call asking him to appear at the Criminal Investigation De- partment (CID) in Colombo for an inquiry on 14 November 2022. The human rights defender was informed that the inquiry is based on a complaint filed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) re - garding a Facebook post published by him on 17 October 2022. Tharindu Jayawardhana is a respected investigative journalist and a dedicated human rights de- fender. He is the president of the Sri Lanka Young Journalist Association (SLYJA) and the chief ed- itor of MediaLK, an investigative news website. He also works as a researcher at the Centre for Society and Religion(CSR). As a journalist and human rights defender, Tharindu Jayawardhana has been an advocate for the rights of oppressed and vulnerable communities and against state vi- olence. On 8 November 2022, Tharindu Jayawardhana received summons via a phone call from a police officer requesting him to appear at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for an inquiry, on 9 November 2022. Tharindu Jayawardhana expressed he could not be present on that day and agreed to appear at 9.30am on 14 November 2022. The human rights defender was informed that the inquiry was based on a complaint filed by the IGP regarding a Facebook post published by him on 17 October 2022. The post included images of police officers using disproportionate force and disrupting peaceful protesters in Colombo on 9 October 2022 and sought public assistance to iden- tify and report officers. Similar summons was issued to journalist/human rights defender Tharindu Uduwaragedara linked to the same Facebook post. Tharindu Jayawardhana was targeted several times in the past for his human rights work and re- porting. In June 2021, he received a death threat via Facebook from Senior Deputy Inspector Gen- eral of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon. Over a year later, on 9 August 2022, the human rights de- fender was summoned to the CID Head Quarters in Colombo to make a statement regarding the death threats made against him by Senior DIG Deshabandu Thennakoon. Tharindu Jayawardhana has exposed police torture, and torture chambers such as in the ‘Ko- tadeniyawa case’ in October 2015, used by the Kotadeniyawa police against citizens. Since the in- ception of protests in 2022 linked to the economic crisis, Tharindu Jayawardhana has been report- ing on peaceful protests, disproportionate use of force by police and reprisals against protesters. He has used his social media accounts to challenge disinformation against protesters and expose state violence. He is a key campaigner against the ongoing detention of student leaders Wasantha Mudalige and Siridhamma Thero under the Draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act in 2022 linked to their role in the protests. In September 2022, Tharindhu Jayawardhana used the Right to Informa- tion (RTI) act to seek information regarding the alleged use of expired tear gas by the Sri Lankan police used against protesters. Despite interventions by the RTI commission, the police denied pro- viding information citing national security and integrity.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression
- Online
- Freedom of expression
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Summary for Publications
On 8 November 2022, Tharindu Jayawardhana, media worker, was summoned by the police for an ongoing investigation related to a social media post he shared showing police use of excessive force during the nationwide protests in Colombo, Sri Lanka.