COMMONWEALTH JOURNALISTS OUTRAGED OVER SRI LANKAN EDITOR`S KILLING

KUCHING (Malaysia), Jan 9 (Bernama) -- The Commonwealth Journalists
Association (CJA), based in Canada, has condemned the killing of Lasantha
Wickramatunga, the editor of Sri Lankan newspaper, Sunday Leader, Thursday.

CJA Executive Director Bryan Cantley said Wickramatunga had been a fearless
journalist, working under difficult circumstances in a country wracked by
conflict.

"We note that the government of Sri Lanka has ordered an investigation into
his death and urge that it also include the wider context of violence against
the media in Sri Lanka, which has included the Sunday Leader's printing presses
being burnt in 2007 and the privately owned Maharaja TV station attacked and its
equipment extensively damaged on January 6," he said in a statement emailed to
Bernama here.

Kuching is the capital city of East Malaysia Sarawak state.

"The CJA calls on the Sri Lankan government to catch and punish those
responsible for Wickramatunga's death," he said.

Wickramatunga was shot in his car while he was travelling to work in a
Colombo surburb yesterday and died later in a hospital.

CJA also urged the government to ensure that the media be allowed to operate
freely and without fear of retribution as it should in a flourishing democracy.

Based on Amnesty International reports, he said, that at least 10 media
employees have been killed in Sri Lanka since 2006.

-- BERNAMA