Journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, "Guilty of nothing more than a passion for truth" - President Obama
In a statement issued by the White House in honor of World Press Freedom Day, President Barack Obama expressed his concern for Sunday Times Journalist J.S Tissainayagam and said his case was "emblematic of the hundreds of journalists who face intimidation, censorship, and arbitrary arrest." Tissainayagam and journalists like him are "guilty of nothing more than a passion for truth and a tenacious belief that a free society depends on an informed citizenry," said President Obama in his statement.
[Tamil journalist and columnist J.S. Tissainayagam arrives at the Colombo High Court in a prison bus in the Sri Lankan capital, March 23, 2009-Reuters pic]
Statement by the President in honor of World Press Freedom Day
World Press Freedom Day is annually observed on May 3 to remind us all of the vital importance of this core freedom. It is a day in which we celebrate the indispensable role played by journalists in exposing abuses of power, while we sound the alarm about the growing number of journalists silenced by death or jail as they attempt to bring daily news to the public.
Although World Press Freedom Day has only been celebrated since 1993, its roots run deep in the international community. In 1948, as people across the globe emerged from the horrors of the Second World War, nations saw fit to enshrine in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights the fundamental principle that everyone "has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
Even as the world recognizes the central and indisputable importance of press freedom, journalists find themselves in frequent peril. Since this day was first celebrated some sixteen years ago, 692 journalists have been killed. Only a third of those deaths were linked to the dangers of covering war; the majority of victims were local reporters covering topics such as crime, corruption, and national security in their home countries.
Adding to this tragic figure are the hundreds more each year who face intimidation, censorship, and arbitrary arrest - guilty of nothing more than a passion for truth and a tenacious belief that a free society depends on an informed citizenry. In every corner of the globe, there are journalists in jail or being actively harassed: from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, Burma to Uzbekistan, Cuba to Eritrea. Emblematic examples of this distressing reality are figures like J.S. Tissainayagam in Sri Lanka, or Shi Tao and Hu Jia in China. We are also especially concerned about the citizens from our own country currently under detention abroad: individuals such as Roxana Saberi in Iran, and Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea.
Today, I lend my voice of support and admiration to all those brave men and women of the press who labor to expose truth and enhance accountability around the world. In so doing, I recall the words of Thomas Jefferson: "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
6 Comments
President Rajapakse couldnt care less about what President Obama says. His brother Gotabaya fully agrees - even before the court hearing on the abduction of Editor Vithyatharan, he loudly proclaimed that the latter "had blood on his hands".
Even now, more than three months after the killing of Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge,the Judicial Medical Officer's report & the report of the Government Analyst are yet to be submitted to courts. Police boycott court hearings.Police said that they had not received the analyst's report but the latter said that the report had been handed over weeks earlier.
In the old days, reports of medical officers who conducted the postmortems are read out in courts on the very first dates of the cases - so are the analyst's reports. Then only the police have access to them.
Excellent by President Obama . America and UN must immediatley send the peace keeping force to jaffna .
forget about India and china .
save the tamil hidus and christians who are starveing to dead now. eight to thirteen years girls walking in naked with no clothes ?? what action was taken by UN ?? President obama has two daughters as christians we have to save our brothers and sisters.
God bless Obama and his family .
send the troops now.
President Obama knows only too well that with breaking and lowering the racial barrier in American politics, great achievement though it is, his responsibility does not end there. Ably assisted by the likes of Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Susan Rice, amongst others, he has to continue to sustain the momentum of such great achievement and above all work hard to bring about a world that respects and implements 'social justice' in every field of human endeavour, beginning of course with 'politics' - national and international.
I am particularly pleased that President Obama had singled out J S Tissanayagam as an emblematic example facing distressing reality in Sri Lanka. None of the others the President mentioned are any less deserving for his attention. None of these journalists should be in the position they are in today, in the first place.
Tissanayagam gathered and provided information about human rights abuses during the suppression of JVP uprising in the late 80s and early 90s to Mahinda Rajapakse who compiled them and presented to the UN HRC at Geneva. Now, President Rajapaksa has first hand experience of how effective a campaigner Tissanayagam could be for human rights. This is probably why he has been held in remand without being charged.
Tissanayagam does have an eye condition if not treated properly could make him go blind. Obviously, in Sri Lankan remand such prisoners of conscience are never treated with respect. If Tissanayagam's eye condition is not treated he would very soon go blind. Releasig him from remand after he has lost his sight or his vision is irreparably damaged is like sentencing him to life-long imprisonment.
Tissanayagam is not known for his sympathies to Tamil Tigers. As I understand, he is committed to upholding humanistic values and is very much devoted to human welfare. His services are desperately needed for the well-being all Sri Lankans. I urge the President kindly to intervene on his behalf directly to secure his well-deserved and utmost urgently needed release from remand prison.
It was also Thomas Jefferson who said: "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine!" How very true it turned out to be in the case of Sri Lanka!
Rajapakses cannot understand this statement. To make them understand take them to the Hague and put them behind bars for real genocidal atrocities.
They say, tell who your friends are and we will tell who you are.
China, Pakistan, Iran, Libya these are some countries with proven appalling human rights violators that Sri Lanka calls friends.
No more bargaining and listening to lies and deceptions.
Send in the well equipped International troops the matter will be solved within days.
Statements are nice, but they don't do anything unless you follow it up with real action like forces on the ground.
So people, don't get excited like little kids, when politicians like Obama and Hillary makes empty statements.
The bad guys in the world knows that the current leadership in the white house is good at at making statements and threats that they will never follow it up with action. In the past, the same people have objected to any type of military intervention. Military intervention is the only thing that will scare the thugs running Sri Lanka.
Ditto for the UK, EU, India & the UN.