{"id":161492,"date":"2016-04-29T17:50:39","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T12:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=161492"},"modified":"2016-05-01T00:01:09","modified_gmt":"2016-04-30T18:31:09","slug":"crackdown-on-free-speech-now-official-social-media-critic-suspended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/crackdown-on-free-speech-now-official-social-media-critic-suspended\/","title":{"rendered":"Crackdown On Free Speech Now Official: Social Media Critic Suspended"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Government which pledged to champion free speech and promised to give free rein to critics has now officially closed that chapter of the democratizing project by orchestrating the suspension of a person alleged to have \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hadawathemahinda\/videos\/584073255104781\/?__mref=message_bubble\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">insulted ministers and criticized the Government<\/span><\/a>\u2019 using social media.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hadawathemahinda\/videos\/584073255104781\/?__mref=message_bubble\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">K.L.K. Piyankara<\/span><\/a>, a project coordinator attached to the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mattala+Rajapaksa+International+Airport&amp;x=14&amp;y=8\">Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport<\/a><\/span> (Employee No 6480) has been informed that he has been suspended following findings of an initial investigation. He would not be paid while the suspension stands, the letter further states.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile it has been alleged that an individual who had committed similar &#8220;offences&#8221; had been tracked down to Malaysia, brought back and arrested at the Colombo International Airport.<\/p>\n<p>These developments follow <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/media-ministry-in-muddle-over-joint-opposition\/\">the\u00a0controversial directive to media head<\/a>s<\/span> by the Secretary to the ministry of Media. In his letter Nimal Bopage criticised media for giving publicity to the &#8220;joint opposition&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>We publish below a copy of the letter sent to\u00a0K.L.K. Piyankara.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/crackdown-on-free-speech-now-official-social-media-critic-suspended\/k-l-k-piyankara-a-project-coordinator-attached-to-the-mattala-rajaaksha-international-airport\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-161493\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-161493\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/K.L.K.-Piyankara-a-project-coordinator-attached-to-the-Mattala-Rajaaksha-International-Airport.jpg\" alt=\"K.L.K. Piyankara, a project coordinator attached to the Mattala Rajaaksha International Airport\" width=\"639\" height=\"852\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/K.L.K.-Piyankara-a-project-coordinator-attached-to-the-Mattala-Rajaaksha-International-Airport.jpg 639w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/K.L.K.-Piyankara-a-project-coordinator-attached-to-the-Mattala-Rajaaksha-International-Airport-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":161493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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