Sri Lanka: Security Agencies Shutting Down Civic Space

Expand Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, center attends an event to mark the anniversary of country's independence from British colonial rule in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. © 2020 AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena (New York) – Sri Lankan security agencies are stepping up surveillance, harassment, and threats against human rights activists and journalists, Human Rights Watch said today. Since November 2019, when the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came into office, there has been a rapid closing of civic space and freedom of expression. In interviews with 15 Sri Lankan…

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