COLOMBO: A media rights group Monday expressed fears for the safety of journalists in Sri Lanka after Colombo grilled two Australian activists and seized computer data before kicking them out.
The Free Media Movement (FMM) said it expected a crackdown by the authorities following last week’s questioning of the two International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) staffers in Colombo.
“We have very serious doubts about our own safety and that of independent journalists after the detention of IFJ officials last week,” FMM leader Sunil Jayasekera told reporters in Colombo.
He said the two activists — Jacqui Park and Jean Worthington — were questioned by the police Criminal Investigations Department and immigration authorities about their local contacts.
Their computer files had been hacked and storage discs destroyed, Jayasekera said.
The two Australians were detained last Wednesday while they were at a workshop on media freedom in Colombo, accused of violating their visa conditions and expelled from the country, according to immigration officials.
However, the FMM said the pair was told by the immigration department Friday that “it was all a big misunderstanding” and they were free to leave.
“This is simply part of intimidation to scare journalists and rights activists both here and abroad,” Jayasekera said.
“After insisting that they broke visa conditions and engaged in anti-government activities, they have not pressed charges. That is because there are no grounds for any action against them, but the government wanted to send a strong signal to independent journalists and activists.” Shortly after arriving in Sydney, Park told reporters that she feared for the safety of journalists in Sri Lanka.
“From the kinds of questions that we had over the two days it was clear it was kind of a witch hunt against the local media, local journalists and media freedom activists who are really trying to create some free space for freedom of expression in Sri Lanka,” she said.
There has been no comment from immigration authorities who questioned the pair for two straight days while detaining them in their hotel.
The Brussels-based IFJ said it was also “deeply concerned” about the safety of media personnel in Sri Lanka after a Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka from November 15 — 17.
Sri Lanka has blacklisted many foreign journalists over their reports on the country’s human rights record and alleged war crimes in the final stages of the Tamil ethnic war in 2009.
Sri Lanka media activists fear crackdown after arrests
Sri Lanka media activists fear crackdown after arrests
Minister walks out of film festival after accusations of German role in Gaza ‘genocide’
- Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib said the German government “are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel”
BERLIN: A German minister walked out of the awards ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival after a prize-winning director accused Germany of complicity in the “genocide” committed by Israel in Gaza.
Social Democratic Environment Minister Carsten Schneider left the ceremony on Saturday evening because of “unacceptable” remarks, his ministry said.
Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, who picked up a prize for Best First Feature Award with his “Chronicles from the Siege,” said in his speech that the German government “are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel. I believe you are intelligent enough to recognize this truth.”
Schneider was the only member of the German government attending the ceremony though he was not representing it, his ministry told AFP.
The Ministry of Culture, contacted by AFP to find out the reason for the absence of its minister Wolfram Weimer, did not respond immediately.
A leading member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party, Alexander Hoffmann, denounced what he said were “repugnant scenes” of “antisemitic” during the ceremony.
“The accusations of genocide, the antisemitic outbursts, and the threats against Germany at the Berlinale are absolutely unacceptable,” Hoffmann, head of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian party allied with Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, told the Bundestag.
The CDU mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner told newspaper Bild that “The open display of hatred toward Israel is in direct contradiction with what this festival represents.”
The backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East led to a tense 76th edition of the festival.
More than 80 film professionals criticized the Berlinale’s “silence” on the war in Gaza in an open letter, accusing the festival of censoring artists “who reject the genocide” they believe Israel has committed in Gaza.
Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy withdrew from the festival after jury president Wim Wenders said cinema should “stay out of politics” when asked about Gaza.
