Tissainayagam was detained on 7 March 2008 by the
Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the
Sri Lanka Police. He was charged with intending to incite communal hatred through writing, and furthering terrorist acts through the collection of money for his magazine. The magazine has since been closed down. During his trial, Tissanayagam claimed that he was harassed and threatened by the TID while under detention. He has also filed a
Fundamental rights petition with the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The TID produced a confession signed by Tissanayagam as evidence against him. Tissanayagam claimed it was dictated to him, and he was pressured to write it. The only other pieces of evidence that the Government presented against Tissainayagam was two paragraphs he had written; "1. In a July 2006 editorial, under the headline, "Providing security to Tamils now will define northeastern politics of the future," Tissainayagam wrote: "It is fairly obvious that the government is not going to offer them any protection. In fact it is the state security forces that are the main perpetrator of the killings." 2. A part of a November 2006 article on the military offensive in
Vaharai, in the east, which said, "Such offensives against the civilians are accompanied by attempts to starve the population by refusing them food as well as medicines and fuel, with the hope of driving out the people of Vaharai and depopulating it. As this story is being written, Vaharai is being subject to intense shelling and aerial bombardment." On 31 August 2009, the
High Court of Sri Lanka sentenced Tissainayagam to a total of 20 years rigorous imprisonment, for arousing "communal feelings" by writing and publishing articles that criticised the government's treatment of Sri Lankan
Tamil civilians affected by the
war, and for raising money to fund the magazine in which the articles were published in furtherance of terrorism.
Reaction In a statement to mark the
World Press Freedom Day, US President
Barack Obama said Tissainayagam and other journalists like him were "guilty of nothing more than a passion for truth and a tenacious belief that a free society depends on an informed citizenry."
Amnesty International criticised the action taken upon J.S. Tissainayagam and expressed deep concerns for the journalist, naming him a
prisoner of conscience. Bob Dietz,
CPJ Asia Program Coordinator says "We condemn J.S. Tissainayagam's long detention and harsh charges for publishing a magazine, which should not constitute an offence. This is the latest step by the Sri Lankan government to intimidate journalists who write about security issues." During his detention without charge, among the people who expressed concern and opposition to this, were Sri Lankan religious leaders such as Colombo's
Anglican Bishop
Reverend Duleep De Chickera and the
Sinhala Buddhist monk Ven Samitha Thera. The
Sri Lankan government defended his trial and conviction, with President
Mahinda Rajapaksa, saying the verdict was handed out by an independent judge and that the government can not interfere with the courts and that "attempts now being made to pooh-pooh the charges in the indictment filed against Tissanayagam, rather than seen as any part of a vibrant campaign for media freedom, can be seen as an attempt at interfering with the judiciary and judicial process of (Sri Lanka)". However international Governments and press freedom groups both in and out of Sri Lanka condemned the ruling. The Asian Human Rights Commission likened the trial to the "show trials" of the Stalinist era.
Pardon On 3 May 2010 the
Sri Lankan government announced that Tissainayagam would be pardoned by President Rajapaksa to mark the 2010 World Press Freedom Day. == Awards ==