''The Sunday Standard'' was an English-language weekly newspaper in Sri Lanka published by Standard Newspapers (Private) Limited, part of Communication and Business Equipment (Private) Limited (CBE). It was founded in 2006 and published from

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. Its sister newspaper was ''

Mawbima ''Mawbima'' (lit. Motherland) is a weekly Sinhala language newspaper that publishes news, letters, articles, and features related to Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, � ...

''. ''The Sunday Standard'' and ''Mawbima'' were launched in August 2006.''The Sunday Standard'' was a successor to ''The Weekend Standard'' which had been launched by businessman

Tiran Alles Tiran Alles, MP is a Sri Lankan businessman and politician. He is a current member of Parliament of Sri Lanka and the Minister of Public Security. Alles had entered politics as an ally of former General Sarath Fonseka and a member of parliame ...

in August 2005 to help the presidential campaign of Mahinda Rajapaksa. The newspaper was politically independent, and exposed corruption, mismanagement and human rights violations by the Rajapaksa government. This led to the newspaper being harassed by the government. On 18 January 2007, the Inland Revenue Department raided a number of companies associated with the Alles family, including Standard Newspapers. On the same day, the editorial director of Standard Newspapers was threatened with death if the newspapers continued to publish articles critical of President Rajapaksa's brothers Basil Rajapaksa and

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Lieutenant Colonel Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa ( si, නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ; ta, நந்தசேன கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஷ; born 20 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan military ...

. Dushyantha Basnayake, finance director of CBE, was arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) on 26 February 2007, allegedly for giving money to the rebel

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

. The TID questioned numerous newspaper staff for many days and raided the offices of CBE on 5 March 2007, seizing financial documents and correspondence. On 6 March 2007, CBE's mobile phone services in the north and east of the country were suspended by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission on the orders of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. The bank accounts of Standard Newspapers and CBE were frozen on 7 March 2007 on the orders of President Rajapaksa. The last issues of ''The Sunday Standard'' and ''Mawbima'' were published on 24 March 2007.

References

2006 establishments in Sri Lanka 2007 disestablishments in Sri Lanka Defunct English-language newspapers published in Sri Lanka Defunct Sunday newspapers published in Sri Lanka Publications established in 2006 Publications disestablished in 2007 {{SriLanka-newspaper-stub