Committee calls on Lankan authorities to ensure thorough probe of journalist attack

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the New York-based international press freedom organization, has called on Sri Lankan authorities to ensure a thorough investigation into the attack on web journalist Freddy Gamage by two men.

"The government's vows not to let Sri Lanka return to the bad old days of rampant attacks on journalists must be followed by swift and effective justice," Colombo Page quoted Bob Dietz, Asia Program coordinator at Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as saying.

The group demanded the culprits be punished with full force of the law.

Freddy Gamage, the editor of 'Meepura' after covering a local government council meeting in Negombo was attacked by two men on Thursday.

The men hit Gamage with a large wooden pole on his head. He was later taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

In a statement condemning the attack, government spokesman Dharshani Gunatilaka said that the government "would never again allow media suppression, which prevailed during the past, to reoccur."

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also strongly condemned the assault and has ordered the Inspector General of Police to conduct an immediate investigation into the attack.