Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

'An attempt to destroy Sri Lanka' - Foreign Secretary slams daughter of murdered journalist

 

Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage has slammed the daughter of a murdered journalist, labelled her plea for international action an “attempt to destroy Sri Lanka and see its downfall”.

Colombage's comments follow Ahimsa Wickrematunge's Op-ed in the Washington Post last week, which called on the international community to ensure “murderous autocrats pay a price”.

Wickrematunge writing in the Washington Post detailed the Rajapaksa linked assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge in 2009 and the numerous attempts to attain justice being quashed by Sri Lankan judges aligned with the Rajapaksa’s. Lasantha Wickrematunge was assassinated on January 8 2009, weeks before he was due to testify about the corrupt arms deal which had implicated then-Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa for embezzling US $ 10 million in government funds. The piece prompted the US House of Foreign affairs to tweet its support for Ahimsa Wickrematunge search for justice asserting that the “US must reassert its leadership role on human rights and supports calls for justice in Sri Lanka”.

Read more at the Daily Mirror.

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.