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ALERT - SRI LANKA
21 June 2007
Government orders local Internet service providers to block "Tamilnet" news
website
SOURCE: Free Media Movement (FMM), Colombo
**For further information on the Dharmaratnam case, see IFEX alerts of 28
April 2006, 17 June, 13 May, 29 and 28 April 2005**
(FMM/IFEX) - The following is a 20 June 2007 FMM press release:
Clamping down on the Internet: The ban on "Tamilnet" in Sri Lanka
20 June 2007, Colombo, Sri Lanka - The FMM is deeply disturbed to learn
that "Tamilnet" - http://www.tamilnet.com - a Tamil news website, is now
being blocked by all major Internet service providers (ISPs) in Sri Lanka
on orders of the government.
This is a significant turn in the erosion of media freedom in Sri Lanka and
clearly demonstrates the extent to which media is censored and the free
flow of information curtailed, without any accountability, transparency or
judicial oversight.
"Tamilnet" is one of most widely visited and well-known news websites in
Sri Lanka. Hosted abroad, the website is frequented by journalists from all
ethnicities, civil society and the donor and diplomatic communities as well
as the diaspora for situation updates, analyses and feature articles. It
was popularised from relative obscurity by the late Tamil journalist
Sivaram Dharmaratnam who, up until his murder in April 2005, was its
editor. Though widely considered to be biased towards the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), "Tamilnet" offers alternative perspectives, insight
and information not often featured on other websites and in mainstream
print and electronic media in Sri Lanka.
The ban on "Tamilnet" is the first instance of what the FMM believes may
soon be a slippery slope of Internet censorship in Sri Lanka. It is also a
regrettable yet revealing extension of this Government's threats against,
and coercion of, print and electronic media in Sri Lanka since assuming
office in late 2005. The ban damningly occurs at a time when ****the [vs:
an]**** International Mission on Press Freedom and the Freedom of
Expression is in Sri Lanka to ascertain and alert stakeholders to the
chilling decline in media freedom, violence against journalists and an
unbridled culture of impunity.
The FMM stresses that the danger of censoring the Internet is that it gives
a government and state agencies with no demonstrable track record of
protecting and strengthening human rights and media freedom flimsy grounds
to violate privacy, curtail the free flow of information and restrict
freedom of expression - thus adding a heavy price in terms of diminished
civil liberties to the high toll exacted by terrorism itself. The action by
the Sri Lankan Government also contravenes established best practices in
the free flow of information on the Internet and internationally recognised
principles of freedom of expression on the web. In particular, the ban goes
against the declaration by Reporters Without Borders and the OSCE on
freedom of the media in 2005, that states, inter alia:
"2. In a democratic and open society it is up to the citizens to decide
what they wish to access and view on the Internet. Filtering or rating of
online content by governments is unacceptable . . . Any policy of
filtering, be it at a national or local level, conflicts with the principle
of free flow of information.
"4. . . . A decision on whether a website is legal or illegal can only be
taken by a judge, not by a service provider. Such proceedings should
guarantee transparency, accountability and the right to appeal."
Blocking access to media and restricting information are characteristic of
the reprehensible strategies adopted by terrorists. The FMM is gravely
concerned that the Sri Lankan government, in adopting the same tactics and
strategies, severely undermines media freedom and freedom of expression,
and calls upon it and relevant state authorities to immediately rescind the
orders to block the access to "Tamilnet".
For further information, contact S. Sivakumar, spokesperson, tel: +94 777
315 665, or the Free Media Movement, 237/22, Wijeya Kumaratunga Road,
Colombo 05, Sri Lanka, tel: +94 777 312 457, +94 11 257 3439, fax: +94 11
471 4460, e-mail: fmm@sltnet.lk, Internet: http://www.freemediasrilanka.org
The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of FMM.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit FMM.
_________________________________________________________________
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