Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement (FMM) has condemned the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) after journalist Sulochana Ramiah Mohan received a notification from X (formerly Twitter) that the platform had received a legal request from the CID targeting content on her account.
According to the FMM, Mohan received an email from X stating that the CID had submitted a request regarding a post from her account @sulorammohan. The post linked to an article headlined “Govt seeks time to address power ministry issue,” which covered developments related to the ongoing energy crisis.
The CID reportedly claimed the post violated Sri Lankan law. X informed Mohan that no action had been taken on the content at this stage.
The FMM said it reviewed both the original article and the X post and found no illegal content. The media rights body described the CID’s request as a “serious interference with freedom of expression” and questioned the rationale for seeking removal or restriction of a journalist’s reporting on a matter of public interest.
The organisation said it would raise the matter with both local and international stakeholders.
The incident comes amid heightened political sensitivity around energy sector coverage following the no-confidence motion against the former Energy Minister and the presidential coal commission investigation. Press freedom watchdogs have expressed concern about any attempts to restrict reporting on accountability matters.
