Mangala to file FR petition against raid on news websites

Main opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera is to file a fundamental rights (FR) petition against last Friday’s raid on two news websites, Sri Lanka Mirror and Sri Lanka X News.

Samaraweera told the media yesterday that he would file the petition before court this week.

He said that nine members of Sri Lanka Mirror who were taken into custody by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) during the raid on the website office are also to support his FR petition.

Accepting the responsibility for the content in the Sri Lanka X News, Samaraweera observed that there was no law in the country that has made the registration of news websites compulsory.  He added that the nine persons attached to Sri Lanka Mirror had been arrested by the CID on a law that had been repealed in 2002.  According to Samaraweera, Sri Lanka X News is the official website of the UNP’s Communications Division and would therefore not be registered since there was no law for it.