The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) has expressed serious concern over two recent incidents it says threaten media freedom and freedom of expression in the country.
Issuing a statement, the TEGOSL highlighted the first incident involving the Editor of the newspaper Aruna, who was summoned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to record a statement over a news item published on November 19, 2025, deemed “false.”
TEGOSL criticized the CID for failing to provide key details, including the identity of the complainant, and noted that internationally recognized procedures for addressing disputed news items such as allowing the complainant to write to the editor or to the Press Complaints Commission were ignored.
The second incident involved a statement by Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Sunil Watagala, who reportedly instructed police officers to take action against those who “defame” the President, citing Emergency Regulations.
TEGOSL said this contradicted an earlier statement by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake that the regulations would only be applied to manage disaster situations and that criticism of the government would remain permissible.
The guild warned that the deputy minister’s remarks could give police a misleading signal to take punitive action against journalists and media institutions.
“Both incidents carry a chilling effect on freedom of expression and media freedom in the country,” TEGOSL said, urging the government to prevent a recurrence.
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