Front Line welcomes the release on 22 March 2007 of journalist and human rights defender Parameswaree Munusamy detained without charge in the Terrorist Investigation Unit in Colombo since 24 November 2006 but is deeply concerned about the continued detention of Dushyantha Basnayake.
Dushyantha Basnayake is the financial director of Standard Newspapers Private Limited, which publishes Mawbima. TID officials arrested him on 26 February 2007 at his office in Colombo. His bank accounts were frozen on 13 March. It has been reported that he has been held incommunicado and has not been granted access to his legal counsel since his arrest. Dushyantha Basnayake had been questioned several months before his arrest by the Criminal Investigations Division (CID), but had been released without charge and the authorities allegedly apologized for any inconvenience caused to him. 
