Sri Lankan journalist Tissainayagam gets Presidential pardon

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has given a special pardon to journalist JS Tissainayagam, who was sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment by the High Court, Colombo, for receiving funds from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - a banned terrorist organization, and for writing and publishing articles that aroused communal feelings.

The founder and publisher of the "North Eastern Monthly", Tissainayagam, was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in March 2008, and was charged with attempting to cause the commission of acts of violence or racial or communal disharmony relating to articles published in his magazine, and also with collecting and obtaining information for the purpose of terrorism, and obtaining funds for the magazine from the LTTE in 2006 and 2007.

He was found guilty by the High Court of Colombo in August 2009, of the charges on which he was indicted.

Subsequently, following a petition to the Court of Appeal by Tissainayagam, he was granted bail on January 11, 2010.

The pardon by President Rajapaksa was announced by the new Minister of External Affairs Prof. G. L Peiris, when he assumed duties in his ministry today. Minister Peiris said this pardon on World Press Freedom Day, showed the Government’s commitment to Media Freedom was not only in words but also in action.