Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said Bennet Rupasinghe, the Sri Lanka-based news editor of lankaenews.com, was arrested and remanded in custody until April 7.
“Mr Rupasinghe had allegedly threatened the brother of a suspect who is alleged to be involved in an arson attack on the website office,” Jayakody said.
Sunil Jayasekara of the group Free Media Movement said the arrest was made on questionable grounds and is an attempt to silence dissenting media.
LankaeNews has been target of a number of threats and attacks in recent years.
A columnist for the website has been missing for more than a year. The websits’s office was set on fire earlier this year, prompting Rupasinghe to go public saying he suspected a government hand in the attack.
Jayakody said the man who complained of threats is a brother of a suspect arrested in connection with that arson.
The man was threatened by two men and later by a caller, Jayakody said. Jayasekara said he suspected the arrest was made to deflect the allegations the government is behind the fire.
“The arrest has been made on questionable grounds,” Jayasekara said. “This is an attempt to silence critical media.” Most Sri Lankan journalists exercise self-censorship after a series of threats, attacks, abductions and killings of reporters.
Amnesty International says at least 14 Sri Lankan media workers have been killed since 2006, and no arrests have been made in their killings.
