The Committee to Protect Journalists, which has requested the authorities to carry out a thorough and speedy investigation into the attack by the Sri Lankan security forces on the journalists, has also requested the authorities to stop harassing the staff of Expose News.
In the early hours of July 22, the security forces attacked four journalists, including three journalists of the private digital newspaper Expose News, who were engaged in the work of gathering news about the action of the security forces in the area where the demonstrations were taking place and the subsequent demonstrations.
The journalists said that the police went to the office of Exposure News on the 27th in search of three journalists who were involved in gathering news about the demonstrations.
Demonstrations have erupted in Sri Lanka due to the ongoing economic and political crisis. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country on the 13th and resigned the next day. Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the new president on the 21st.
Attacks on journalists reporting on political unrest in Sri Lanka must end immediately, Program Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists Carlos Martinez said in Madrid.
He said that the authorities should conduct a thorough investigation into these attacks, bring the culprits to justice and stop harassing the employees of Exposure News.
On July 22, BBC camera director and video editor Zareen Samuel was attacked by security forces – while he was gathering news about the attack by soldiers on a protest camp in Colombo’s Kalimukta, the attack took place, according to BBC News and Samuel, who spoke to us by phone.
My group and I showed the press IDs and foreign accreditation card to the authorities but the officers repeatedly pushed me to the ground and kicked me in the stomach, Samuel said.
Due to this, he was admitted to the local hospital for his injuries, he said.