Sri Lankan reporter gets 20-year sentence

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- J.S. Tissainayagam, a Sri Lankan journalist praised by U.S. President Barack Obama, has drawn a 20-year prison sentence on terrorism charges, officials say.

Sri Lanka's High Court Monday found Tissainayagam, 45, who wrote for the Sunday Times newspaper in Colombo and operated a Web site that covered Sri Lanka's minority Tamil population, guilty under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, The Times of London reported.

Prosecutors reportedly said Tissainayagam received money from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for his Web site and published articles critical of the government's military actions against the LTTE.

The Times said Amnesty International considers Tissainayagam a prisoner of conscience, and President Obama mentioned him in a statement honoring World Press Freedom Day, saying, "In every corner of the globe, there are journalists in jail or being actively harassed. Emblematic examples of this distressing reality are figures like J.S. Tissainayagam in Sri Lanka, or Shi Tao and Hu Jia in China."

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been criticized for clamping down on press freedoms, and journalists blame him for encouraging the abduction and slaying of reporters, The Times said.