Sri Lankan journalist given 20 years in prison

A Sri Lankan court Monday sentenced an ethnic Tamil journalist to 20 years in prison under the island's harsh anti-terrorism law for publishing articles critical of the government's war on the Tamil Tiger rebels.

J.S. Tissainayagam's articles in now-defunct Northeastern Monthly magazine in 2006 and 2007 had criticized the government's conduct in the war and accused authorities of withholding food and other essential items from Tamil-majority areas as a tool of war.

His conviction Monday in the High Court was the first of a journalist under the country's Prevention of Terrorism Act.

High Court Judge Deepali Wijesundara said Tissainayagam's articles violated the anti-terror law because they were aimed at creating communal disharmony. She also found the journalist guilty of raising money for a publication whose articles violated the anti-terror law.

Government soldiers defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in May ending their 25-year campaign for an indepependent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils. The conflict killed 80,000-100,000 people.