Sri Lanka blocks websites hours before election results
Sify News Desk | 2010-01-27 10:44:42
Just hours before the results of the Sri Lankan Presidential elections were out, the Lankan government cut off access to independent Sri Lankan news websites such as Lankaenews, Lankanewsweb, Infolanka and Sri Lanka Guardian. Sri Lanka Telecom, the country’s main Internet Service Provider, blocked all news websites within Sri Lanka since the wee hours of January 26, 2010, the day of when Lanka went to polls.
Sri Lanka on edge after vote
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Lankaenews journalist had told Reporters Without Borders that the site had been rendered inaccessible within Sri Lanka since Jan 26 morning by Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the country’s main ISP. However, the site was accessible from abroad and via a private ISP in Lanka.
“According to a source working for SLT, verbal directives were given to block the site,” the Lankaenews journalist said. “We complained to the electoral commission, which has referred the complaint to the SLT. We also asked the head
of SLT but so far we have not had any answer. Meanwhile, our staff has been getting threatening phone messages with comments such as ‘We are coming to deal with you’.”
The journalist added that he had still received no news of his Lankaenews colleague, political analyst Prageeth Eknaligoda, who has been missing since the evening of 24 January. Eknaligoda had just written a long piece comparing the two leading presidential candidates and expressing a preference for the opposition candidate.
