Daily Archives: July 28, 2012
Sri Lanka navy urges Australia to deport boatpeople
Sri Lankan navy officials have urged Australia to deport the growing number of boatpeople arriving from their country, saying it was the “best way” to deter people smugglers, a report said Saturday.
Sri Lanka’s naval operations director Commodore N. Attygalle and its head of naval intelligence Nishantha Ulugetenne told The Weekend Australian newspaper, Canberra ought to turn Sri Lankan asylum-seekers straight back home.
“When you start deporting then this problem will ease for us,” Commodore Ulugetenne told the newspaper.
“More than 1,500 Sri Lankans have landed in Australia in the last six months. What are you going to do with them, screen them one by one?”
Authorities in Colombo have seen a spike in people-smuggling traffic from its shores in recent months even though they have disrupted several attempts involving hundreds of asylum-seekers.
The surge has fuelled a political deadlock over the issue in Australia, with the government wishing to transfer boatpeople to Malaysia as a deterrent measure but the conservative opposition blocking the plan.
Sri Lanka navy urges Australia to deport boatpeople – The West Australian.
Sri Lanka media group challenges websites blocking
A media rights group has filed a court challenge over the Sri Lankan government’s blocking of five news websites for content that was deemed insulting, a spokesman said Tuesday.
The local Free Media Movement filed a fundamental rights application in the Supreme Court on Monday on the basis that the blockade breaches the people’s right to information and freedom of expression, the group’s convener, Sunil Jayasekara, said.
The Information and Media Ministry ordered the sites blocked last month, saying they committed character assassination and insulted people including key political leaders.
The sites blocked are
srilankamirror.com
srilankaguardian.com
paparasinews.com
gossip9.com
lankawaynews.com.
Rights groups criticized the move as undemocratic. Sri Lankan laws do not restrict the press from criticizing leaders, but media can be charged for defamation.
The ministry has also asked websites to register, a new requirement for websites, while older media formats such as new spapers, radio and television already have to register before they start opertating.
Sri Lanka media group challenges websites blocking – Yahoo! News India.
