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August 31, 2009

Sri Lankan Journalist Sentenced to 20 Years of Hard Labor
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A Sri Lankan court has sentenced an ethnic Tamil journalist to twenty
years of hard labor for publishing articles critical of the government’s
war on the Tamil Tiger rebels. In a series of articles published in 2006
and 2007, J.S. Tissainayagam accused Sri Lankan authorities of
withholding food and other essential items from Tamil-majority areas as
a tool of war. He is the first journalist convicted under the country’s
Prevention of Terrorism Act.



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