Sri Lankan defence minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa reportedly verbally abused Sunday Leader editor Frederica Jansz during a telephone interview last week. Jansz had asked the minister if he was aware that an aircraft scheduled to fly to Zurich was to be changed to accommodate a personal friend. During the conversation Rajapaksa told Jansz people “will kill you — you dirty fucking shit journalist”, and threatened to sue the newspaper if they ran the story. The Sunday Leader won the Index/Guardian Freedom of Expression award for journalism in 2009.
Sri Lankan newspaper the Sunday Leader has been nominated for the Guardian Journalism award at the 2009 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards. The awards will be presented on 21 April in London.
In advance of the awards ceremony, Sunday Leader editor Lal Wickrematunge was interviewed on 19 April by the BBC World Service’s The World Today. He spoke movingly about the assassination of his brother Lasantha and the future of Sri Lanka. You can listen to the interview here
