Athas wins prestigious award

The Sunday Times Consultant Editor and Defence Correspondent Iqbal Athas is among a CNN team that has won the Alfred I. Dupont – Columbia University awards for the coverage of the tsunami disaster in South Asia 2004 – 2005. Mr. Athas is Colombo Correspondent for CNN. The Dean and Chairman of Jurors of the Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University, decided the award. The citation (see montage) says it is “for excellence in broadcast journalism.”

The Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University is well known for the Pulitzer Journalism Awards it offers. In Colombo, however, the Defence Ministry withdrew personal protection afforded to Mr. Athas on Wednesday. It came in the wake of his exclusive disclosure in The Sunday Times (Situation Report) that the Ukrainian Government had launched a probe into the allegedly corrupt MiG-27 procurement deal. A Sinhala translation of his revelations appeared in the Lankadeepa last Tuesday.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Free Media Movement said it has reason to believe the personal protection was withdrawn as ‘revenge for his coverage’ of the MiG-27 deal. The FMM warned that the signals sent by this action could be ‘very dangerous’.

UNP Spokesman and Galle district Parliamentarian Gayantha Karunatilleke, told a news conference on Thursday that his party condemned the move to withdraw Mr. Athas’ personal protection.