"The Lord sets captives free," the psalmist intones this Sunday. Sri Lankan journalist J. S. Tissanayagam, singled out by President Barack Obama as an example of persecuted journalists around the globe, was sentenced Monday to 20 years hard labor under Sri Lankan anti-terrorism laws critics say are used to stifle dissent.

Tissanayagam was arrested in March 2008 after writing articles criticizing the conduct of the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels and accusing authorities of withholding food and other essential items from civilians in Tamil-majority areas as a tool of war.

The government accused Tissanayagam of writing propaganda and sowing dissent. "The constitution itself gives freedom of press, but that doesn't allow anybody to spread false information to spur ethnic violence," prosecutor Sudarshana DeSilva told the court.

Rights groups have accused the government of waging a broad crackdown on media freedom that has continued since it routed the rebels and ended the nation's quarter-century civil war in May.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 11 Sri Lankan reporters were forced to flee the country in the past year, and Amnesty International, which has labeled Tissanayagam a prisoner of conscience, said at least 14 Sri Lankan journalists and media workers had been killed since the beginning of 2006.

Source: Articles by Ranga Sirilal for Reuters and Bharatha Mallawarachi for Associated Press