On 18 November, journalist JS Tissainayagam, currently on trial before the High Court under the country’s Terrorism Act, was moved to the notorious Magazine prison in Colombo after more than 150 days in detention. He had not been informed of the move beforehand and his lawyers were not consulted. The conditions in the prison are said to be extremely poor, and Tissainayagam was held for two days in a room with 140 convicted criminals. Detained without charge for almost six months, the editor of the website OutreachSL became the first journalist charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on 25 August. The charges relate to articles he wrote in the North Eastern Monthly between June 2006 and June 2007, in which he was critical of the government.

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