Tamil scribe gets 20 years in jail for 'backing terrorism'

In a verdict that shocked journalists worldwide, the Colombo High Court on Monday sentenced veteran Sri Lankan journalist Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam, 45, to 20 years rigorous imprisonment under the country's stringent anti-terror law.

US President Barack Obama had recently cited Tissainayagam as an 'emblematic example' of journalists who faced intimidation and arbitrary arrest worldwide.

The judgment confirmed worst fears of activists across the globe that Sri Lanka would make an example of Tissainayagam to intimidate other reporters who have chosen to question the government's anti-terror campaign.

Tissainayagam who contributed to the local Sunday Times and also ran a website that focused on the country's Tamil population, was found guilty of spreading 'racial hatred' and 'supporting
terrorism,' an official at Colombo's High Court said.

The scribe, detained for over 400 days now, was charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for an article he had written in the pro-LTTE magazine North Eastern Herald, that has since been closed.

Tissainayagam was arrested on March 7, 2008 and later charged under the anti-terrorism legislation. His family has decided to appeal against the ruling.

The state-owned Daily News had claimed in May this year that Tissainayagam in an admissible confession had admitted his links with the LTTE.

"The confession was admitted in evidence at the court trial. There was material that showed his close links to Sivaram alias Tharaki one time editor of the pro-LTTE website Tamilnet," the newspaper said. (With PTI inputs)