COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — The news editor at Sri Lanka's investigative Sunday Leader newspaper was driving to work in January when she ran into a traffic jam a few hundred yards from the office.
Naturally, she investigated. Almost immediately, she saw the body of her boss, friend and editor in chief, Lasantha Wickrematunge, being loaded into a white van near his battered, bloodstained car. Witnesses later reported that several gunmen on motorcycles had carried out the attack.
Wickrematunge, an uncompromising journalist known for his hard-hitting articles on corruption and military accountability, had many powerful enemies. But the 52-year-old had survived attacks before.
This time, his luck ran out.
"Walking into the office the next day was so hard," the news editor, Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema, said, sitting at her computer beside a picture of him. "All we could do was hug each other."
The Sri Lankan government hasn't commented on its investigation into the Jan. 8 killing, saying only that it is continuing.
The government has nearly doubled the size of its armed forces since 2006, altered military tactics and devoted enormous resources to winning its 25-year civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels, who seek a separate state. Although the military has chalked up a long line of victories, nine journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka in the last three years, a government minister told parliament shortly after Wickrematunge's death.
Echoing a global debate over the balance between human rights and the fight against militants, some suspect that paramilitary forces or others closely associated with the government may have played a role in the attacks.
Critics charge that the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which came to power espousing human rights and benefits for the downtrodden, appears outright hostile to journalists who don't toe the government line, contributing to a climate of fear.
Anyone who speaks out against the government is accused of demoralizing the troops, being a traitor or supporting the Tigers, said Lal Wickrematunge, chairman of the Sunday Leader, sitting at his desk beside a picture of his slain brother.
"There's a fear psychosis among the media," he said. "There's self-censorship."
Humanitarian organizations, opposition groups and other independent voices also feel a chill, some said.
