Sri Lanka: a voice cries freedom from beyond the grave
[Telegraph]
Back from Beijing (where I spent last week, apologies for lack of posts) to report, with the heaviest heart, the murder of one of Sri Lanka’s bravest and most controversial journalists. Lasantha Wickrematunge, 50, was stabbed and shot to death in broad daylight last Friday as he drove to work at The Sunday Leader, the liberal Colombo-based newspaper he edited. His death – conveniently obscured in the news agenda abroad by events in Gaza and at home by Sri Lankan army’s gains against the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in the Elephant Pass – sounds the death knell for civil society in Sri Lanka.