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Home / Writers at Risk / J.S. Tissainayagam
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J.S. Tissainayagam

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In August 2009, writer and journalist Tissainayagam was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment with hard labor under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for “causing communal disharmony” with reporting on conflict in northern Sri Lanka in 2006. He has now been released. On May 3, 2010, World Press Freedom Day, he was officially pardoned by then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Former U.S. President Barack Obama cited his case as emblematic of global press repression. Tissainayagam is now based in Washington, D.C., where he continues to write, including articles for Foreign Policy.