A Tamil editor who had criticised the Sri Lankan government’s military action against Tamil Tiger rebels and was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year on ‘supporting terrorism’ and ‘inciting communal disharmony’ charges, was pardoned this morning by Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

J.S. Tissainayagam, who was the editor of North Eastern Monthly magazine and a columnist for the Sunday Times in Colombo, has been out of prison on bail pending appeal since January this year.

According to Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister Gamini Peiris, who announced the pardon, the president’s decision was made to mark World Press Freedom Day.

Because of Sri Lanka’s poor record on press freedom, IPI has chosen to honor World Press Freedom Day with a week-long series of journal entries from Iqbal Athas, who is the defense correspondent and consultant editor for the Sunday Times, Sri Lanka’s largest independent weekly.

Speaking with IPI by phone from Colombo, Athas said the decision to pardon Tissainayagam was to some degree an attempt to “mend fences” with the European Union and the United States, which have criticized the Sri Lankan government’s human rights record. Athas nonetheless welcomed the move.

President Rajapaksa had originally said he could not intervene until the entire appeals process was complete; the fact that the pardon comes ahead of Tissainayagam’s scheduled date in appeals court “suggests a rethinking on press freedom,” Athas said.

“President Rajapaksa’s decision to pardon J.S. Tissainayagam in honor of World Press Freedom Day is extraordinary; however, we hope that this move will not reveal itself to be a one-time public relations coup, but that it is indicative of a broadening commitment by the Sri Lankan authorities to end the harassment and murder of journalists,” said IPI Deputy Director Alison Bethel-McKenzie.

Tissainayagam was the first journalist to be charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), in connection with articles he wrote which criticized government tactics used in the assault on the Tamil Tigers. Originally arrested in March 2008 along with two other journalists, Tissainayagam was held without charge for nearly six months before he was accused of inciting ethnic disharmony in August 2009.  He was convicted and sentenced one year later.

As IPI reported at the time, the evidence against the journalist was based on two articles he wrote in the North Eastern Monthly, and a signed confession, which Tissainayagam later said had been written under duress. His defense counsel submitted a written statement to the court which said the confession had been tampered with to suggest that the journalist had taken money from the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan government announced the defeat of the Liberal Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, ending 25 years of conflict.