'Pardoning' Tissainayagam delayed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 May 2010, 17:10 GMT]
Sri Lankan 'presidential pardon' granted to senior journalist J.S.Tissainayagam is delayed due to the withdrawal of his appeal from the law court, claimed Sri Lankan Foreign External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris to Colombo media Friday.

This is a procedural step that has to be attended by his lawyers. But the government has instructed the Attorney General to provide necessary assistance to the aggrieved party to speed up the formalization of the presidential pardon that the government announced on the World Press Freedom Day, Minister Peiris further said.

The High Court of Colombo sentenced the journalist to twenty years rigorous imprisonment after he was arrested and charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Tissainayagam later filed an appeal in the Court of Appeal against the conviction. He is on bail at present.

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