A top Sri Lankan lawyer today said he fears for his safety after he issued statements critical of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government.
Upul Jayasuriya, the president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, lodged a complaint after unidentified men on motorcycle and three-wheeler followed him yesterday as he was leaving the court premises.
Jayasuriya has been critical of the Sri Lankan government. He had accused the government of moving towards a dictatorship after it banned all local and foreign NGOs from holding press conferences.
"I suspect a link between my issuing the statement and the men following me yesterday," he told reporters.
"They may have tried to assassinate me. They left only after I raised the alarm and called the police."
Earlier this month, the Mahinda Rajapaksa government ordered that all NGOs should refrain from "unauthorised activities with immediate effect".
Sri Lanka has often accused foreign and local NGOs of supporting dissidents.
In 2010, the government introduced stricter regulations to control them, a year after Sri Lanka troops defeated the Tamil Tigers and ended decades of ethnic war.
Legal group Lawyers' Collective in a statement urged the Sri Lankan government to carry out an impartial probe into the incident and ensure Jayasuriya's safety.
"Mr Jayasuriya has been a strong leader of the Bar who has spoken strongly and fearlessly against the breach of Rule of Law, abuse of constitutional norms and erosion of democracy in Sri Lanka", a statement by the collective said.
