By Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO, Aug 31 (Reuters) -- A Sri Lankan court sentenced a journalist who wrote articles critical of a military offensive against the Tamil Tigers to 20 years' hard labour under anti-terrorism laws critics say are used to stifle dissent. Colombo High Court Judge Deepali Wijesundera found J.S. Tissanayagam guilty on three charges of conspiracy and violating the Prevention of Terrorism Act and powerful wartime emergency regulations that give the government wide powers of arrest. She gave him the minimum sentence under the law. Tissanayagam was arrested in March 2008 and accused of having links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), after writing articles in the Northeastern Monthly magazine about the impact of the government's offensive on civilians. The government accused him of accepting LTTE money to write propaganda in the magazine and sow dissent between minority Tamils and the Sinhalese ethnic majority. "The constitution itself gives freedom of press, but that doesn't allow anybody to spread false information to spur ethnic violence," prosecutor Sudarshana DeSilva told the court. The LTTE, until its defeat after a 25-year war in May, had fought to create a separate nation for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, arguing that successive post-indendence governments led by the Sinhalese majority had repressed Tamils. Western governments and press freedom groups condemned his arrest as symbolic of crumbling press freedom in Sri Lanka, where the Committee to Protect Journalists says at least eight journalists have been killed since 2007. Others have been beaten, harassed, detained and threatened with death. Tissanayagam, who is Tamil, signed a confession but later told the court he did so under duress. "This is a good lesson for all journalists to be cautious when writing in future," defence lawyer Anil Silva said. "He lost his job in the '80s when talking about labour union rights. Now, he lost his freedom when talking about Tamil rights." Silva said his client would appeal. A main component of the Prevention of Terrorism Act is its proscription of ethnically divisive language, which critics say President Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration has used to clamp down on critical reporting. Rwandan President Paul Kagame came under similar criticism for his government's application of laws that bar ethnically inflammatory language, instituted after its 1994 genocide. (Writing by Bryson Hull; Editing by Nick Macfie)
A woman bathes inside the Settikulam Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp in northern Sri Lanka August 15, 2009. Many people who escaped from LTTE-controlled areas during the war have been living ...
