WORLD : Sri Lanka Tightens Censorship
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The government today extended tough censorship laws to foreign media and said security forces can shoot Sinhalese radicals engaging in violence or putting up anti-government posters.
“No news whatsoever can go out of this country without being censored,” Foreign Minister Rajan Wijeratne told a news conference. “If you cannot conform to that, please leave the country.”
“I will cancel your visas and deport you if you violate the censorship,” he told reporters, who included several foreign correspondents. “If I decide to cancel a visa, no appeals will be considered.”
The government blames Sinhalese militants for at least 3,500 killings since they launched an anti-government campaign in July, 1987, to protest peace overtures being made to separatist Tamil rebels.
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