Silent march through the streets of Colombo in defence of freedom of expression
The latest victim of this wave is SLWJA Secretary Poddala Jayantha. A journalist with the Sinhalese newspaper Silumina, Mr Poddala was attacked on 1 June in the middle of the afternoon in front of several witnesses and held briefly by a still unidentified group.
After being dragged to a small truck he was beaten and several bones in his legs were fractured. His attackers shaved his head and beard and left him near Colombo’s IDH Hospital.
In response to the violent incident, which was unanimously condemned, the SLWJA and the Free Media Movement (FMM) announced their decision to hold a silent march on 10 June.
“Freedom of expression is a right”, said Fr Lional Peiris, who took part in the rally with people from the diocese of Kurunegala. Speaking to AsiaNews he said that that “that freedom has been assassinated”; for this reason “we feel that the war is not over.”
24/01/2007