Sri Lankan Police How They Treat Journalists?

 Sri Lankan police arrest, beat journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) promotes press freedom worldwide.

CPJ defends the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

This guy is contesting Elections and I believe he should be in the parliament, for the sake of Independent Media in Ceylon. 

I do not agree with most of his political ideas.

I am posting this piece because a guy made an adverse comment on his physical appearance under his YouTube presentation. 

That guy who made the comment, I think who could not read in English should try to read this piece for his own personal information.

I am going to remove this pieces, the day after the election, let me say Day After Roswell.

I do not know him except that I knew him as a writer in the Ravaya Paper under Victor Ivan.

I stop reading Victor and Ravaya is no more.

I occasionally read Aniddha Paper, especially Jayadeva Uyangoda piece (who we used to call him as Jamis Aiyah. 

I think he was parallel Arts student in my time but I did not know him in the university. 

He his an astute political analyst much better than Niormal Devasiri. 

Niomal tends to confuse us and his (Niomal's) YouTube comments are boring.

 

Reproduction

Sri Lankan police arrest, beat journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara

New York, July 28, 2023

Sri Lankan authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara and investigate allegations that he was beaten by police, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

At around 3 p.m. on Friday, July 28, police arrested Uduwaragedara after he covered a trade union protest in Borella, a suburb of the capital Colombo, according to Journalist for Democracy, a rights group operating from exile, and Jayantha Dehiaththage, the journalist’s lawyer, who spoke with CPJ by phone..

Officers pulled Uduwaragedara out of a rickshaw while he was leaving the protest and forced him into a police vehicle while he repeatedly identified himself as a journalist, according to Dehiaththage and video of the incident posted to Twitter.

Two officers beat Uduwaragedara while en route to the Borella Police Station, where he remained detained without charge or access to medical treatment for a head injury as of Friday evening, Dehiaththage said.

“The arrest and police beating of Sri Lankan journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara are appalling, and authorities must immediately release him and provide him with access to medical care,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must hold the perpetrators of this attack accountable and ensure that journalists can cover protests without fear of reprisal.”

Uduwaragedara operates the political affairs YouTube channelSatahan Radio which has over 170,000 subscribers.

He is due to appear before a Colombo magistrate on Saturday, Dehiaththage told CPJ, saying that authorities had not disclosed any specific allegations against the journalist.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protest, where demonstrators had gathered to oppose the slashing of pension funds amid a severe economic crisis.

CPJ called police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa and contacted him via messaging app for comment, but did not receive any replies.