(MENAFN- Colombo Gazette) A group of five UN special rapporteurs have expressed their serious concerns to the Government of Sri Lanka on the continued harassment of journalist Dharisha Bastians, the former editor of Sunday Observer and reporter for the New York Times in Colombo.
In a joint letter to the Government dated 13th July 2020 the Special Rapporteurs said Bastians' was being targeted for her writing and her work to defend human rights in Sri Lanka.
The letter said the rapporteurs were concerned that the continued harassment of Bastians and the seizure of her computer and exposure of her phone records could endanger and compromise her sources and deter other journalists from reporting on issues of public interest and human rights.
'We are particularly concerned that these measures may be aimed at discrediting her work, in an effort to stop her reporting on Sri Lankan political and human rights affairs,' the special rapporteurs letter to the Government noted.
The five UN rapporteurs noted that throughout her career, Bastians had written extensively on human rights, extrajudicial killings and the legacy of Sri Lanka's civil war, alleged political corruption, impunity, democracy and political rights in Sri Lanka.
In June 2020 the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) entered the home of Ms. Bastians in Colombo and seized her personal computer in connection with an ongoing investigation carried out over the alleged abduction of a Swiss embassy staffer in Colombo in November 2019. Bastians said the CID had arrived at her residence on two previous occasions to seize her laptop without a court order. Concerns were raised by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Sans Frontiers, Amnesty international human rights watch and frontline defenders among other right groups about the seizure of the journalist's electronic equipment.
The joint letter also noted that 'pro-government media have reportedly conducted a smear campaign against Ms. Bastians and her family, supported by attacks on social media, labelling her as a traitor and a criminal.'
The joint letter was issued by David Kaye Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and Joseph Cannataci, Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL LETTER
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