The petitioner had participated in a radio program on a government-controlled radio station. The petitioner, on air, had asked controversial questions. The petitioner claimed that, following these questions, the program was altered so that no controversial material would be broadcast, an arbitrary violation of his right to freedom of speech under the Sri Lankan constitution. The Supreme Court of Sri Lankan sided with the petitioner and called the government’s actions “sudden and arbitrary”. The Court cited the European Court of Human Rights but called certain of its decisions “not helpful” because its free expression provisions differed from their correlates in the Sri Lankan Constitution. Nevertheless, the Court ruled against the government interference.

[ link ]