From rxpgnews.com
Court frees journalist from Sri Lankan police
By DPA,
Mar 22, 2007 - 2:27:37 PM
Colombo, March 22 - A journalist detained by the police for four months on allegations of maintaining links with Tamil rebels was freed Thursday after a court ruled there was no evidence, court officials said.
Parameshwari Munnusamy, a minority Tamil, was detained by the Terrorism Investigations Division agents who claimed that she was closely associating with another woman allegedly linked with the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -.
The Supreme Courts said there was no evidence against the reporter of Mavubima newspaper, a Sinhala-language weekly run by associates of a former minister of the ruling party. The ex-minister, Mangala Samaraeera, was sacked from the cabinet last month and has been spearheading a campaign against President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Free Media Movement welcomed the release of Parameshwari and expressed its gratitude to other international organisations, which supported the campaign to secure her release.
'After four months the truth has been revealed, I appreciate the local and international support I gained during this period.' she said.
The government late last year introduced tough laws to crack down on terrorism, under which journalists have been forced to take extra precautions in reporting news related to the ethnic conflict.
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