Sonali Samarasinghe

Last updated

Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge is a Sri Lankan lawyer and an investigative reporter and editor. She worked as a columnist for the Sunday Leader . She was the founding editor of the weekly Morning Leader . [1] She did her LLB from the University of London and attended Sri Lanka Law College and she was admitted to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka as an attorney at law. She was a Neiman Fellow at Harvard University and an international journalist in residence at the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism.

She was the wife of Lasantha Wickrematunge. She had to flee Sri Lanka to the United States after threats to her life after the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge. She is the Editor of the website Lanka Standard. She was awarded the Global Shining Light Award for Investigative Journalism by the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in 2008 and the Pen International awarded her the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression in 2009. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahinda Rajapaksa</span> President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015

Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019, and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.

Mass media of Sri Lanka consist of several different types of communications media: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and Web sites. State and private media operators provide services in the main languages Sinhala, Tamil and English. The government owns two major TV stations, radio networks operated by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), and newspaper titles in Sinhala, Tamil, and English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gotabaya Rajapaksa</span> President of Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022

Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is a former Sri Lankan politician and military officer, who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022 due to months of public anger. He previously served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 under the administration of his elder brother former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, during the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam is a Sri Lankan journalist. He was detained by the Terrorism Investigation Division of the Sri Lanka Police on 7 March 2008. He was held without charge for almost 6 months. He was indicted on politically motivated charges under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act for intending to incite communal hatred through writing, and furthering terrorist acts through the collection of money for his publication. On 31 August 2009, he was convicted of the charges by the Colombo High Court and sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.

The Sunday Leader was an English-language Sri Lankan weekly newspaper published by Leader Publications (Private) Limited. It was founded in 1994 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspapers are the Iruresa (Irudina) and the defunct The Morning Leader. Founded by brothers Lasantha Wickrematunge and Lal Wickrematunge, the newspaper is known for its outspoken and controversial news coverage. The newspaper and its staff have been attacked and threatened several times and its founding editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was assassinated.

Iruresa is a Sinhala language Sri Lankan weekly newspaper published by Lithira Publications (Private) Limited, part of Leader Publications (Private) Limited. It was founded in 1994 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspapers are The Sunday Leader and the defunct The Morning Leader. Founded by brothers Lasantha Wickrematunge and Lal Wickrematunge, the newspaper is known for its outspoken and controversial news coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lasantha Wickrematunge</span> Sri Lankan journalist (1958–2009)

Lasantha Manilal Wickrematunge was a high-profile Sri Lankan journalist, politician, broadcaster and human rights activist who was assassinated in January 2009.

Lal Wickrematunge is a Sri Lankan business man, media mogul and chairman of Leader Publications which he co-founded with brother Lasantha Wickrematunge. Wickrematunge is the son of Harris Wickrematunge former deputy mayor of Colombo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederica Jansz</span> Sri Lankan journalist)

Frederica Jansz is a Sri Lankan journalist and former editor of The Sunday Leader.

Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression is a literary award made in collaboration with PEN International Writers in Prison Committee, the PEN Emergency Fund, and Oxfam Novib. The award is to recognize writers who have been persecuted for their work and continue working despite the consequences. Honorees receive €2,500.

Freedom of the press in Sri Lanka is guaranteed by Article 14(1)(a) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka which gives every citizen "the freedom of speech and expression including publication". But under some government's there was widespread suppression of the media, particularly those critical of those governments. Sri Lanka is ranked 146 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders's Press Freedom Index for 2022

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George E. de Silva</span> Ceylonese lawyer and politician

George Edmund de Silva was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician. He was the first Cabinet Minister of Industries, Industrial Research and Fisheries in independent Sri Lanka (1947–1948), a Member of Parliament and State Council.

Jayantha Wickramarathne was the 31st Sri Lankan Inspector-General of Police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandya Eknelygoda</span> Sri Lankan human rights activist

Sandya Eknalygoda is a Sri Lankan human rights activist. She became an International Women of Courage Award recipient in 2017. She has been campaigning for thousands of missing persons in Sri Lanka. She is married to missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.

The Sri Lanka Journalism Awards for Excellence is an awards ceremony held annually in Sri Lanka to recognize the achievements of print media journalists working in the country’s three main languages – Sinhala, Tamil and English.

Dr. Mahinda Balasuriya was the 32nd Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police (IGP) (2009–2011).

Dharisha Bastians also spelt as either Darisha Bastians or Darisha Bastian is a Sri Lankan journalist and human rights activist. She was the Editor of the Sunday Observer and a contributor to The New York Times.

The Colombo Telegraph is a Sri Lankan website run by exiled journalists. It was founded in 2011. It has been blocked in Sri Lanka repeatedly. Uvindu Kurukulasuriya is the editor. He went into exile to UK in 2009 after the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge and after he was threatened publicly via national radio by the president's media advisor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge</span> 2009 murder in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Lasantha Wickrematunge, a Sri Lankan journalist, politician and human rights activist, was fatally shot and assassinated in Colombo, Sri Lanka on January 8, 2009. It is believed that he was killed due to his journalistic work critical of Sri Lankan politicians. His murder was widely condemned across the world. The Government of Sri Lanka also expressed shock at the killing, pledging to do everything in its power to catch his killers.

References

  1. ↑ "Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge". IREX. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  2. ↑ "Sonali Samarasinghe Journalist, lawyer". ICORN. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  3. ↑ "Sonali Samarasinghe". Ithacacityofasylum.org. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  4. ↑ "Project Exile: Editor escaped Sri Lanka after husband's murder". Indexoncensorship. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  5. ↑ "Widow of Sri Lankan journalist on her husband's death". BBC. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  6. ↑ "Lasantha murder: International probe urged". BBC. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.