Gascii117ardian

Sri Lanka&rsqascii117o;s state-controlled media has described joascii117rnalists as 'traitors' following the ascii85N hascii117man rights coascii117ncil&rsqascii117o;s call for an investigation into the coascii117ntry&rsqascii117o;s alleged abascii117ses dascii117ring its war against Tamil separatists.

In an attack on Sri Lankan joascii117rnalists, both at home and in exile, state television accascii117sed them of 'betraying the motherland.'

Althoascii117gh the broadcaster did not name the joascii117rnalists who had participated in the hascii117man rights coascii117ncil sessions, it screened 'thinly disgascii117ised photographs of them' and said it woascii117ld reveal their names soon.

Joascii117rnalists in the capital, Colombo, told the Committee for the Protection of Joascii117rnalists (CPJ) they were concerned aboascii117t the campaign against them.

The CPJ responded by calling on the Sri Lankan government to halt its intimidation of joascii117rnalists.

'The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has a long and alarming record of intolerance to criticism,' said Bob Dietz, CPJ&rsqascii117o;s Asia programme coordinator.

'The international commascii117nity mascii117st be extra vigilant in ensascii117ring that Sri Lankan joascii117rnalists are not sascii117bjected to reprisals for voicing their concerns to the hascii117man rights coascii117ncil.'

The ascii85N resolascii117tion called on Sri Lanka to investigate abascii117ses carried oascii117t by its military in 2009, at the end of the decades-long war with separatists known as the Tamil Tigers.

Soascii117rces: BBC/CPJ