Tamil journalist S.Parameswary working for Mawbima Sinhala news paper was released on Mar 22nd after having been detained for 4 months under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Sarojini Kusala Weerawardene, Colombo Chief Magistrate, exonerated her of the charges against her and discharged her. She was accused of providing accommodation to a woman LTTE suicide bomber. The court made the order following a written communication by the Attorney General.

It is an accepted axiom in the field of judiciary that even if 1000 criminals escape punishment, an innocent person should never be penalized. But, journalist Paremeswary had under gone punishment for 4 months although she is not guilty of any offenses.

Tamil journalists have been subjected to threats, killings, abductions and other acts of violence for many years. The killings of Tamil journalists such as Nimalarajan, Nadesan, Sivaram, Suhirtharajan and Atputharajah have not been properly investigated and the culprits have not been brought to book.

In recent times, the threats have been directed towards all journalists irrespective of racial identities. It is a pity that the Sinhala and English media do not seem to be taking these threats seriously. Immediately after Tamil journalist Parameswari was arrested, Sinhala and English media depicted her as a terrorist.

Although she has now been discharged by court, most of the media had already had passed judgment on her and had convicted her. We would like to quote Suhantha Deshapriya, President of the Free Media Movement, who stated that there are certain codes of ethics for news papers and the media should not violate them.

There are reports that a majority of the Tamil news papers have no access beyond Vavuniya. The people of the Jaffna peninsula are denied the right to information. At the same time, the Newspaper Houses in Jaffna are faced with the problem of shortage of news prints. The sale of certain Tamil news papers are banned in the east.

The Tamil newspaper publishers met the President on Mar 21nd and explained the problems to him. The media expects that the President will take appropriate steps to ensure the freedom of expression in the country.

An English translation of the Editorial in Virakesari, a Tamil daily, based in Colombo

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