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,” Bob Dietz, Asia Program coordinator at CPJ said. The group demanded the culprits be punished with full force of the law. 

“We call on the government to find those responsible for planning and executing the attack on Freddy Gamage and to punish them with the 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.

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.

Sri Lanka last year ranked sixth on CPJ’s global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go unpunished. Many of the killings came during the era of the preceding Rajapaksa government, but abated once the president was voted out of office.-Agencies

With inputs from ANI