''The Sunday Standard'' was an

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...

weekly newspaper in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

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 me ...

. 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 Mahinda Rajapaksa ( si, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, ta, மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஷ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to ...

. 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 Basil Rajapaksa (born 27 April 1951) is a Sri Lankan-American politician. He is a former Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for the national list. He was also a member of the Sri Lankan Parliament from 2007 to 2015. During the period ...

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 militar ...

. 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