The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the release of Dammika
Ganganath Dissanayake, media adviser to Sri Lanka’s principal opposition
party and a former chairman of the state-owned broadcast agency, who returned
home yesterday after being abducted by armed men on the night of March 11.
“The IFJ welcomes
the release and safe return of Dissanayake,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.
“However,
his brief disappearance reminds us that the political strife in Sri Lanka plays
itself out in threatening ways for people associated with the media.”
The Sri
Lankan police said Dissanayake returned home early yesterday morning after being
released in the town of Kirindiwella, west of Colombo.
Dissanayake told
reporters that he had been blindfolded and questioned at length about a book his
abductors thought he had written criticising Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa.
Dissanayake said
he was released after he denied knowledge of the book.
Sri
Lanka’s United National Party claimed
that Dissanayake’s abduction was an effort to intimidate and deter him from his
reported plans to write a book on the current leadership in Sri Lanka.
“This entire
murky episode demands a thorough explanation by the Sri Lankan authorities.
Without accountability being established for these lawless acts, the creeping
paralysis of the media in Sri
Lanka risks becoming irreversible,” White said.
For
further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific
on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ
represents over 600,000 journalists in 123 countries