The Whistleblowers, Activists and Journalists Safety International Centre (WAJSIC) says investigative journalist Chamikara Bandara faces an imminent threat to his life in custody in Sri Lanka.
Bandara, who founded the YouTube channel ‘Gindara‘, was remanded to the Kalutara Remand Prison after an investigation by the Meegahathenna Police.
WAJSIC said it is alarmed that Bandara has been placed in the general prison population alongside members of organised crime syndicates he had previously exposed — a move it says puts his life at immediate risk.
“His placement among the general prison population constitutes a direct and foreseeable risk of physical attack, retaliation, or assassination,” the centre in a press statement.
The statement further described the placement as a “grave dereliction of the state’s duty to protect detainees.”
Fabrication of evidence
The press freedom organisation, headquartered in Ghana’s capital Accra and founded by renowned Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, also accused the Meegahathenna Police of fabricating evidence.
WAJSIC stated that police submitted documents bearing an incorrect national identity card number for Bandara and told the Mathugama Additional Magistrate Court that he did not hold a valid passport.
The centre described the claim that Bandara did not hold a valid passport as false and a ploy to deny him bail.
WAJSIC’s demands
WAJSIC outlined three urgent demands to guarantee Bandara’s safety and due process.
It called for his immediate transfer to an isolated, high-security cell. It also demanded the removal of the Meegahathenna Police from the case and the transfer of all case files to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for an independent inquiry.
The centre further urged authorities to allow international observers and local counsel to monitor the court proceedings.
“Journalism is not a crime, and journalists should not be treated as criminals for performing their constitutional duty,” said the Chairman of WAJSIC, Anas.
The centre called on the international community to demand Bandara’s protection and ensure due process was guaranteed.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana/West Africa
