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SRI LANKA: A political analyst has been missing since the election run-up

February 4, 2010

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-009-2010



4 February 2010
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SRI LANKA: A political analyst has been missing since the election run-up

ISSUES: Politics; disappearance; freedom of expression; police inaction.
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda shortly after he wrote articles supporting the presidential opposition candidate. His office was ransacked shortly after, the website he writes for was blocked during the election, and there have been delays and flaws in the police investigation. The journalist was also a victim of an unresolved organised abduction last year. It should be noted that his disappearance fits the strong pattern of harassment of journalists in the country by government agencies.

CASE DETAILS: (Based on information received from the victim's wife)

According to the information received, Mr. Prageeth Ranjan Bandara Eknaligoda (also printed as Ekanaligoda), disappeared shortly after he left his office at the LankaeNews Website headquarters on 24 January 2010 – two days before the presidential election. His last contact was in a call to a Mr Gamini Perera, who usually drives him home, during which the journalist told Mr Perera that he had arranged alternative transport. He mentioned being 'at Koswatte' (and though there are two potential Koswatte’s in Colombo, the victim’s wife believes he was referring to a place near Talangama).

There has been no communication from the victim since and there are no known facts about the perpetrators at this time. However due to the nature of his work, the day of his disappearance, the frequency of state sanctioned acts of repression against journalists under the current administration, and his own past experience of abduction, detailed below, Eknaligoda's family suspect the involvement of state authorities, rather than – as suggested by police – individuals with a grudge.

Shortly after the victim’s disappearance the website LankaeNews was blocked by the government authorities. The block was lifted after the election. The AHRC is also informed that the LankaeNews premises were searched for two hours on the night of 28 January 2010 by a large number of unidentified persons (vehicle registration number: 32-8432), after which the website was again blocked for a short time.

When Mrs. Kamalgoda Mudalige Sandya Priyangani Eknaligoda, attempted to register the incident at Homagama police station, accompanied by Mr Perera, she was told by the OIC (Officer-in-Charge) that the station was unable to record the incident without prior instruction from higher officers, and he advised her to register the complaint with the Koswatte police; this is despite his legal obligation to register the case without delay. After persistence from Mrs. Eknaligoda the officer allegedly agreed to accept the complaint, and statements were recorded from her and Mr. Perera between 10:30 and 11:00am on 25 January 2010.

On 28 January 2010 an officer from Homagama police station and two officers purporting to be from the CID (Criminal Investigation Division) visited Mrs Eknaligoda and her neighbours to record further statements regarding the possibility of private dispute related to the victim. No further action has been seen to be taken.
Ekanaligoda's family do not believe that his disappearance is the result of a private grudge. On 27 August 2009 he was victim of an organised abduction - he was blindfolded, transported a considerable distance and chained in a kind of cell overnight – by men who responded to organised instruction from someone referred to as a higher officer. He was released after the officer told them that he was not the correct intended target.
The case has been well publicised in the media however Mrs. Ekanaligoda also registered complaints at the office of the opposition leader, to Mr Gamini Jayawickrama Perera who is chairman of the United National Party, to the office of the National Board of Intellectuals (Jathika Vidwath Mandalaya), to Mr Wasudewa Nanayakkara who is an adviser to the president, and to several civil society organisations. A government spokesman has since publicly denied government involvement.

Sri Lanka remains one of the most dangerous environments in the region for journalists, and other public opinion makers, largely due to the lack of accountablilty faced by those who harass or attack them. Please refer to last years' urgent appeals and statement archive for other recent and unresolved cases, including the protection and investigation that was denied journalist and police torture victim Senake Ekanayake (UAU-029-2009) and abudction and torture victim, Poddala Jayantha, who is currently president of the Working Journalists Association (in STM-125-2009:SRI LANKA: Journalist attacked - a civil society organisation threatened and a provocative campaign against freedom of expression continues). 

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the relevant authorities to urge for stronger and clearer efforts to thoroughly investigate this disappearance, ensure his safe return, and provide security for the victim’s family.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written a separate letter to the UN Working Group for Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, calling for intervention in this case.

To support this appeal please click here:

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SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

SRI LANKA: A political analyst has been missing since the election run-up

Name of victim: Prageeth Ranjan Bandara Eknaligoda (also written as Ekanaligoda)
Name of alleged perpetrators: Unknown
Date of incident: 24 January 2010
Place of incident: Believed to be Koswatte, Colombo, Western Province

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the disappearance of Mr Prageeth Eknaligoda from Koswatte, Colombo, on 24 January 2010. The victim, who has been a victim of an unresolved abduction in the past, is a journalist and visual designer who works for a website that supports the presidential opposition. His disappearance coincides with the election date and state interference in the publication, which leads the victim’s family to believe that a state agency is responsible.

Mr Eknaligoda has not been seen or heard from since shortly after he left his office on 24 January when he made a phone call noting that he was in Koswatte. When his wife went straight to the Homagama police on the morning of 25 January 2010 to report the incident, with the person he last spoke to by phone (a Gamini Perera), she was allegedly initially refused assistance. After some persuasion, the OIC recorded two statements from Mrs Eknaligoda and Mr Perera.

However the only apparent investigative activities to have occurred so far, were statements that were taken by a police officer from Homagama police station and two officers purporting to be from the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) from the victim’s neighbours, on 28 January, regarding the possibility of private disputes or grudges related to the victim.

It is significant that the LankaeNews website that Mr. Ekanligoda works for was blocked by the government controlled Sri Lanka Telecom shortly after his disappearance. The block was lifted after the election. The LankaeNews premises were also searched for two hours on the night of 28 January 2010 by a large number of unidentified persons, after which the website was again blocked for a short time. Their vehicle number has been identified and reported to the police (32-8432). Despite this, no further official action has been seen to have been taken.

I am extremely concerned for the health, safety and whereabouts of Mr Eknaligoda who has now been missing for more than ten days. I call for an inquiry to be swiftly and credibly initiated into both his disappearance, and why the case has not been dealt with thus far. The fact that simple procedures are being easily ignored during the election period suggests a breach in the chain of command, and this must be immediately addressed with disciplinary action to prevent further such breaches.

If state involvement in the disappearance comes to light, those responsible must be brought before the law. Please also ensure that measures are being taken to protect the victim’s family from intimidation and harm.


Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:



Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
President
Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
C/- Office of the President
Temple Trees
150, Galle Road
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2472100 / +94 11 2446657
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk

Mr. Mahinda Balasuriya
Inspector General of Police (IGP),
New Secretariat,
Colombo 1,
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440
E-mail: igp@police.lk

Mr. Mohan Peiris
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department,
Colombo 12,
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421

Secretary, National Police Commission,
3rd Floor Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road,
Colombo 03,
SRI LANKA
Tel/Fax: +94 11 2 395960
E-mail: polcom@sltnet.lk

Secretary, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka,
No 108 Barnes Place,
Colombo 07
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

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Please be aware that although we regularly update our contact databases, emails to local authorities do sometimes bounce back due to domestic technical issues. If this happens consistently please do inform us at the email address below.

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-009-2010
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.