{"id":47827,"date":"2012-07-11T10:26:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T10:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=47827"},"modified":"2012-07-11T10:34:25","modified_gmt":"2012-07-11T10:34:25","slug":"press-freedom-in-sri-lanka-gota-explodes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/press-freedom-in-sri-lanka-gota-explodes\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Freedom In Sri Lanka: Gota Explodes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By\u00a0The Economist &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/press-freedom-in-sri-lanka-gota-explodes\/the_economist_logo_180-5\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-47828\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-47828\" title=\"The_Economist_logo_180\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/The_Economist_logo_180-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/The_Economist_logo_180-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/The_Economist_logo_180-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>SRI LANKA\u2019s powerful defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, seemed to threaten a senior newspaper editor with death in a profanity-strewn outburst. The cause for his rage was that she called to check whether the state-run national airline had changed aircraft for a scheduled flight from Switzerland. The cause for that switch may have been\u2014or so the editor wished to learn\u2014for Mr Rajapaksa\u2019s niece\u2019s pilot-boyfriend to be allowed to fly an aeroplane which was to deliver <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gota-has-gone-to-the-dog-srilankan-airlines-and-a-puppy-dog-for-his-wife\/\">a puppy from Europe to the defence secretary\u2019s wife<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Frederica Jansz, the editor of\u00a0<em>The Sunday Leader<\/em>, reported that Mr Rajapaksa, who is the younger brother of Sri Lanka\u2019s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, \u201cwent berserk\u201d when she rang him. He said\u00a0would \u201csue [her] fucking newspaper\u201d if she wrote \u201cany bloody word about this\u201d.\u00a0<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>He also barked that he was \u201cnot afraid of the bloody courts\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In a second telephone conversation,<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Mr Rajapaksa elaborated. He called Mrs Jansz \u201ca fucking shit, a pig who eats shit\u201d. \u201cShit, shit, shit journalists!\u201d he ranted.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Ninety percent of the people in this country hate you! They hate you! You come for a function where I am and I will tell people this is the editor of\u00a0<em>The Sunday Leader<\/em>\u00a0and 90% there will show that they hate you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cPeople will kill you!\u00a0 People hate you! They will kill you!\u201d he shouted next. As it happens, Ms Jansz took over the newspaper after its founding editor,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/12932312\">Lasantha Wickrematunge, was murdered in broad daylight in 2009<\/a>. The case remains unsolved. When she questioned whether she would be killed on his directive, the defence secretary seemed to prevaricate. \u201cWhat? No. Not mine. But they will kill you, you dirty fucking shit journalist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The conversation can be viewed in its charming entirety\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/they-will-kill-you-you-dirty-fucking-shit-journalist-you-are-pigs-who-eat-shit-gota-threatened-again\/\">here<\/a>. Media-rights groups have expressed\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/keep-frederica-jansz-safe-embassies-in-sri-lanka-should-raise-her-case-article-19\/\">strong concern<\/a>\u00a0over Ms<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lankan-editor-needs-backup-after-ministers-tirade\/\"> Jansz\u2019s safety<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":47828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[2936,2937],"class_list":["post-47827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories","tag-gotabaya-rajapaksa-news","tag-gotabaya-rajapaksa-threatened-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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