A prominent Sri Lankan journalist JS Tissainayagama was sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment on Monday under the country’s notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act after being in detention for more than 425 days.

Tissainayagam was charged over an article he contributed to the North Eastern Herald magazine published by him and sentenced on the ground that his writing had caused feelings of ill-will or hostility between different communities and racial or religious groups. He had also collected funds for the LTTE.

Tissainayagam’s detention has been condemned both locally and internationally by media organisations, who allege that charges against him are meant to stifle the media.

His lawyers said they would appeal against the sentence which was handed down by the Colombo High Court. They deny the charges made against him.

PTI adds: The state-owned Daily News had claimed in May this year that Tissanayagam in an admissible confession had admitted his links with the LTTE.

"The confession was admitted in evidence at the court trial. There was material that showed his close links to Sivaram, alias Tharaki, one-time editor of the pro-LTTE website Tamilnet," the newspaper said.

"Tissanayagam was associated with several opinion making publications of the LTTE organisation and was part of their propaganda outfit and was instrumental in securing funding for LTTE publication. He has also links with prominent personalities of the LTTE," the paper claimed.

Tissanayagam was indicted by the Attorney-General on August 11, 2008 and the high court trial commenced on September 9, 2008. The court said it found that he had received money from the LTTE to fund his website Outreach.com.

A political science graduate with a post-graduate degree in International Relations, Tissainayagam had worked as a columnist for The Sunday Times since 2007. In May 2007, he developed his website.

Islamabad, August 31
At least 15 militants were killed by security forces in Pakistan's restive Swat valley and nearby areas, where the bodies of 29 suspected insurgents were also found overnight after the Taliban staged a massive suicide attack on a police station.

Five militants and a soldier were killed in an exchange of fire that erupted while security forces were conducting a search operation near Charbagh, a former Taliban stronghold in Swat, the military said today.

Troops killed seven militants and captured 11 more during another search operation at Maira in Swat, it said in a statement.

Three more militants were killed during an operation at Lundai Sarand. Seven suspects were apprehended during a search at Gulkanda and Aman Kot. Troops also conducted a search at Sangota and Fatehpur and captured four suspects. The search operations followed one of the worst attacks since the army wrested control of the area from the Taliban.A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in Swat, killing 17 policemen and injuring over 25 others yesterday.

No group claimed responsibility for the strike, though the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistan, recently said it would carry out attacks to avenge the killing of its chief Baitullah Mehsud in a US drone strike earlier this month. — PTI

A judge of the Lahore High Court on Monday excused himself for “reasons of propriety” from hearing a petition for filing a case against former Pakistani ruler Gen Musharraf Pervez and three others on charges of involvement in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, former premier and leader of the Pakistan People's Party.

The petitioner, Aslam Chaudhry, who claimed he was Bhutto’s protocol officer, had also named former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi and two incumbent PPP federal ministers, Rehman Malik and Babar Awan, as accomplices in planning, executing and covering up Bhutto’s murder. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa told petitioners he would not hear the case as his brother was investigating Bhutto’s assassination in his capacity as director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). "It would bee inappropriate for me to hear the case," he said and referred it back to the Lahore High Court chief justice for designating a new judge for the hearing.

The government last week stopped hearings in the Bhutto murder case against five suspects in an anti-terrorist court in Rawalpindi, saying it was reassigning the case for investigation by the FIA.

Kathmandu, August 31
Nepal's Pashupatinath Temple plunged into fresh trouble as pro-Maoist activists stormed the building of the shrine's managing committee and locked its main office to foil the recruitment of two new Indian priests.

The Maoists have been opposed to the appointment of Indian priests and have demanded that locals be recruited for the job. The temple has a tradition of appointing south Indian priests for years.

Activists of the Maoist affiliated 'Struggle Committee' constituted to appoint Nepali priests for the temple stormed the office of the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), and locked all doors of the building yesterday, Sushil Nahata, member secretary of the PADT said.

"Some 300 Maoists stormed into Pashupati Temple's main office building at 10.30 am and locked all doors including my office from outside before any staff entered," he said.

"The Maoists reaction came after we started the process of recruiting two Indian priests from Karnataka as per the age-old tradition and in compliance with the Act and Supreme Court's stay order," he said. Nepal's Minister for Culture and Parliamentary Affairs Minendra Rijal criticised the act as an "improper action". — PTI

Tokyo, August 31
Japan's next Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, likes to wash dishes, enjoys animal movies and is secretly addicted to shrimp crackers, according to his wife, Miyuki.

Hatoyama, who heads the Democratic Party of Japan, which won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, is "a natural person," Miyuki told the Mainichi newspaper in an interview.

"Hatoyama is often described as an 'alien,' but he is truly an ordinary person, a natural person," she was quoted as saying, speaking from Hatoyama's electoral office in northern Hokkaido prefecture.

"He shows love without restraint, and in that sense he may appear to be an alien because he is unlike a Japanese," she added. Hatoyama has been nicknamed 'the alien' by his party in a gentle stab at his physical appearance. — AFP