- Mass Media Minister feigns ignorance
The credibility of the official figures presented to the Parliament by the Mass Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa regarding the number of Sri Lankan journalists abducted and assaulted over the past decade and a half has been seriously challenged.
On 7 March of this year, Opposition Parliamentarian Mujibur Rahman inquired from the said minister as to how many journalists were killed, abducted or assaulted since 2010.
According to the response provided by Dr. Jayatissa to the Parliament on 22 October, apart from the abduction of Prageeth Bandara Ekneligoda, only eight assaults on journalists have been reported during that period. “Since 2010 to date, one abduction and eight assaults have been reported,” Dr. Jayatissa claimed. “The abduction involves Ekneligoda. The assault cases involve Mahinda Ariyawansa, Dhanushka Sampath Seneviratne, Rafaideen Farook Mohamed Suhail, Subramaniam Baskaran, Chamila Janith Kumara Ekanayake, Asanka Krishantha Balasuriya, Dinesh Upendra, and Indunil Sisira Wijenayake.”
The Suhail that Dr. Jayatissa referred to is not a journalist. He is an aviation student who was detained for nine months under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act as amended without any evidence for posting a social media post critical of Israel. He was acquitted by the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court in September of this year.
However, the fact that media outlets as well as local and international media organisations have reported at least two abductions and over 20 cases of torture and assaults on journalists across the country during that period seriously challenges the figures presented by Dr. Jayatissa.
The vast majority of the victims had lodged complaints with the Police and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) regarding the crimes that they endured. Among them, one Vanni-based Tamil journalist has been assaulted more than three times.
In addition to the nine names, Dr. Jayatissa also revealed to the Parliament the current status of the investigations said to be underway into these cases. However, no information was provided on whether the HRCSL is investigating these incidents, or what recommendations, if any, have been issued following its investigations.
At the very least, no information was presented to the Parliament regarding the two South-based journalists who were assaulted last month (September).
The Free Media Movement (FMM) has revealed these incidents through two statements. One statement describes how Ridimaliyadda, Mahiyanganaya-based provincial journalist Vimukthi Sanjaya Perera was severely assaulted on 19 September 2025 by a person believed to be a timber racketeer. The other discusses how Moragollagama provincial journalist Sisira Nandana Kalegama was assaulted in September because a privately owned Sinhala newspaper reported about an infant’s death caused by falling into an uncovered farming well in Polpithigama, an incident that was later covered by television channels.
Even though a number of North- and East-based Tamil journalists were allegedly subjected to severe assaults by members of the security forces, politicians and traffickers during the 15-year period since 2010, these incidents were not included in what Dr. Jayatissa presented to the Parliament on 22 October.
Below is a list of such assaults that have not been reported to Dr. Jayatissa but have been documented by the media:
In September 2012, freelance journalist Prasad Purnamal Jayamanna was assaulted by a security officer at the Chilaw District General Hospital. The journalist complained to the Police that he was attacked while performing his professional duties, at a moment when Chilaw Mayor Hilary Prasanna Fernando was also present.
A tense situation erupted at the Hambantota Port when the Navy intervened to free two ships seized by protesting staff members on the Human Rights Day in 2016. Video footage of the then Navy Commander, Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, who arrived at the scene, verbally abusing and assaulting Hambantota-based journalist Dileep Roshan Gunasekara circulated widely on social media platforms.
Two Tamil journalists, Kanapathipillai Kumanan and Shanmugam Thavaseelan, who were investigating an illegal teak timber racket in the Mullaitivu District were assaulted by timber racketeers on 12 October 2020. In February thai year, Vanni District Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi MP Thurairasa Ravikaran recounted in the Parliament how these journalists, who worked to expose corruption, became targets of criminals: “When illegal tree felling in the Mullaitivu District was exposed, Kumanan and Thavaseelan, who went to cover the story, were assaulted by illegal timber racketeers.”
Freelance journalist Sujeewa Gamage had been abducted on 10 March 2021 and had been burned and tortured while in captivity, before being abandoned on the roadside. Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) Assistant Superintendent of Police Neville de Silva had told the journalist’s wife that he had acted on the orders of the Presidential Secretariat. Attorney Namal Rajapaksa had stated that when he accompanied Gamage to record a statement, a CCD Superintendent of Police named Anuranga scolded him.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Akkaraipattu Police officers assaulted Ampara-based freelance journalist Shaheer Khan Farook and damaged his work equipment. According to provincial correspondents, the Police attacked him, accusing him of not wearing his face mask properly. The incident had occurred on 2 September 2021, when Farook, a resident of Addalaichenai in Ampara, was leaving his home for reporting duties. Video footage showing Police officers dragging the journalist to a Police vehicle after the assault was posted on social media platforms.
When freelance journalist Vishwalingam Vishwachandran was taking a video of the Mullivaikkal nameboard on 27 November 2021, he was allegedly assaulted and tortured by the Army. Showing photographs related to the incident, the Mullaitivu Press Club claimed that the Army assaulted Vishwachandran with a palmyra petiole wrapped in barbed wire. Three soldiers of the 59th Division, who were arrested by the Mullaitivu Police on charges of assault and torture, had been released on bail within a few hours.
On the morning of 26 February 2022, the IBC media outlet’s Batticaloa regional correspondent journalist Lakshmanan Devapradeepan was assaulted while covering a protest in Batticaloa. On 28 February 2022, the Eravur Police arrested a suspect, a supporter of the then State Minister Sathasivam Viyalendiran, Velupillai Nandan, on charges of assaulting Devapradeepan.
In April 2022, the security forces and the Police had attacked journalists who went to cover a protest in Mirihana.There, Ada Derana Colombo regional journalist Nissanka Werapitiya sustained injuries and was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital, while Ada Derana journalist Sumedha Sanjeewa was arrested by the Police after he was severely beaten. Ada Derana Nugegoda regional journalist Pradeep Wickramasinghe also sustained injuries as a result of Police assaults.
On 17 June 2022, senior journalist Thawaseelan was attacked by an individual named Ambunathan Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Mallavi in Anindiankulam. The assault occurred while the Army and the Police were present, as Thawaseelan was reporting on the hardships faced by the public in a fuel queue in Mallavi in the Mullaitivu District.
On 9 July 2022, during the Aragalaya period (a movement seeking the resignation of the then Government led by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and a political system change), several other journalists sustained injuries in a Police attack targeting journalists. The incident occurred near the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence on Fifth Lane in Colpetty, and the attack took place on the orders of the Special Task Force (STF) Director, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Romesh Liyanage. The Sirasa Media Network named Sarasi Peiris, Kalimuthu Chandran, Imesh Sutherland, Chanuka Weerakoon, Banidu Lokuruge, Waruna Sampath, Judin Sinthujan and Janitha Mendis as those journalists. The HRCSL summoned STF Commandant, Deputy Inspector General of Police Waruna Jayasundara, Liyanage, and the Special Investigation Unit SSP D.S. Wickremasinghe, and conducted an investigation. It recommended to the Inspector General of Police that Liyanage be transferred out of Colombo with immediate effect and that an impartial investigation be carried out. The response given by Dr. Jayatissa to the Parliament did not contain any information about it.
The Police assaulted journalist Shantha Wijesuriya on 31 March 2023 in front of the checkpoint at the Nugegoda Junction. He had gone to cover a protest held to mark the one-year anniversary of anti-Government protesters surrounding Rajapaksa’s house in Mirihana.
Journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara has taken steps to file a Fundamental Rights petition against the Police, alleging that he was forcibly arrested while returning home after covering a protest in Borella on 28 July 2023, assaulted, and detained in a Police cell without receiving medical treatment.
On 26 December of last year (2024), a group of individuals who arrived in a vehicle tried to abduct freelance journalist and Kilinochchi Press Club Secretary Murugaiyah Tamilselvan on the A-9 highway in Kilinochchi. When their attempt failed, they threatened him and left.
The Mullaitivu Press Club’s former President Thawaseelan, who was reporting on a sand scam in the war-affected Mullaitivu District, lodged a complaint with the Mankulam Police on 15 February this year regarding death threats and assault. He provided the Police with photographs of the two individuals who threatened him with death, as well as details of the motorcycle that they used including its registration number, NP BFR 8429.
British Broadcasting Corporation Tamil Service freelance journalist U.L. Mabrook filed a complaint at the Akkaraipattu Police saying that three individuals, including the Addalaichenai Pradeshiya Sabha Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Member Riya Masur, questioned his reporting, assaulted him, and threatened to kill him on 2 July this year near the Addalaichenai Public Ground.
According to the World Press Freedom Index 2025 published by the Paris, France-based Reporters Without Borders, Sri Lanka has fallen to the 139th place out of 180 countries.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication