Amnesty says Sri Lankan authorities treating dissent harshly

The Sri Lankan government is intensifying a crackdown on critics by sanctioning abuses often committed by security forces or their proxies, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

Journalists, the judiciary, human rights activists and opposition politicians are among those targeted in a pattern of threats, harassment, imprisonment and violent attacks, the report said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government promotes an official attitude that equates opposition with treason, the human rights group said.

“Violent repression of dissent and the consolidation of political power go hand in hand in Sri Lanka,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Asia Pacific region, in the statement accompanying the report.

The Sri Lankan government gave no immediate comment on the report, but it has previously rejected similar accusations.

“There is a real climate of fear in Sri Lanka, with those brave enough to speak out against the government often having to suffer badly for it,” Truscott added.

Amnesty says the government started consolidating power immediately after the military defeated the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, ending a prolonged civil war in 2009.