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Sri Lankan journalist predicted own execution
CNN,
Jan 15, 2009.
(CNN) -- A crusading Sri Lankan journalist shot dead last week knew he would be killed -- he said so in a dramatic, posthumously published column touching a raw nerve in his war-torn island nation.
Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor-in-chief of The Sunday Leader, was gunned down execution-style January 8 but spoke from the grave three days later when the newspaper published "And Then They Came For Me."
That posthumous column anticipated his slaying by government forces and defended the craft of journalism in his country, a profession under fire during its bitter civil war.
"Diplomats, recognizing the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka, have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries. Whatever else I may have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice. But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience," Wickrematunga wrote.
"People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it's a matter of time before I am bumped off."
Wickrematunga wrote that he was twice assaulted and his house was fired upon.
"Despite the government's sanctimonious assurances, there was never a serious police inquiry into the perpetrators of these attacks, and the attackers were never apprehended.
"In all of these cases, I have reason to believe the attacks were inspired by the government. When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me," he wrote.
Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapaksa, asked about threats to journalists, voiced assurance that no journalist or media institution had cause to fear any threats or attacks by the government, according to a statement on the government's official Web site.
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Published: Thu Jan 15 15:42:07 EST 2009
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wsj.com,
15 january.
COLOMBO -- Sri Lankan armed forces have surrounded a shrinking number of Tamil Tiger rebels in the northeastern part of the country in a bid to crush the separatist movement and end Asia's longest-running civil war.
