Tissa’s FR case on Monday

By S.S.Selvanayagam
The Supreme Court yesterday listed the rights violation petition filed by senior journalist J.S.Tissainayagam against the officers of the Terrorist Investigation Division to be supported for interim relief next Monday.
The Bench comprised Justices Asoka de Silva, N.E. Dissanayake and Raja Fernando. President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva with J.C. Weliamuna and M.A. Sumanthiran appeared for the journalist. Senior State Counsel K.P. Ranasinghe appeared for the respondents.
Court has already granted leave to proceed with this rights violation petition filed by petitioner Tissainayagam for the alleged infringement of his fundamental rights to freedom from torture, equality and equal protection under the law, and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.
Petitioner Tissainayagam cited OIC Prasanna de Alwis, Director Nandana Munasinghe of the TID, IGP Victor Perera, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Attorney General as respondents.
In his petition, he complained that TID OIC Prasanna de Alwis was directly responsible for the detention, investigation and custody of petitioner and said Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was vested with the authority to issue Detention Orders under the Emergency Regulations.Tissainayagam, an old Thomian and a political science graduate, started his career at Wijeya Newspapers Ltd, as a journalist for the Sunday Times and the Daily Mirror. He has been working as a columnist for the Sunday Times since 2007.
In May 2007, he developed a website “Outreach,” with financial support received from a largely German based organization called Facilitating Local Initiatives for Conflict Transformation (FLICT).
On March 6, police officers visited and searched the second floor of a building, where a press belonging to one N. Jasiharan is situated. The ‘OutreachSL office is situated on the ground floor of the same building.
Jasiharan and his wife were taken into custody by police officers of the TID. On the following day, March 7, police officers arrived at the ‘OutreachSL office with Jasiharan in their custody and searched the premises. Petitioner on being informed of this went to his office, as he was concerned about Jasiharan, But the police officers had left by then.
Tissainayagam went to the TID on the same day and asked them whether, as a staff member, he could meet Jasiharan. Tissainayagam was then questioned, arrested and detained.
He complained that the conduct of the respondent police officers, which amounted to discriminatory treatment on the basis of his ethnicity, had resulted in the violation of his fundamental rights