Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association calls to unite against attempts to suppress media

The Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association has criticized the summoning of the Editor-in-Chief of the Aruna newspaper, Mahinda Ileperuma, to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) today (24), following a news report published in the paper.

The statement, issued with the signatures of the Association’s Co-Chairperson and Secretary, further called on the present government to immediately halt any attempts at media suppression and to govern in a manner that values debate and does not obstruct media freedom.

The Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association emphasized that the government should not undermine media freedom, which serves the entire population of Sri Lanka, and expressed its confidence that the present administration will not retreat from this responsibility.

The statement also urged all concerned parties to join efforts to resist this attempt at media suppression and to uphold the freedoms of speech and expression.

The full statement is provided below.