Colombo  - A Tamil minority journalist charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Regulations in Sri Lanka was sentenced Monday to a 20-year rigorous imprisonment term by a local court, officials said.

The journalist, Jayeprakash Tissainayagam, 48, had been in custody for 14 months before he was sentenced by Colombo High Court judge Deepali Wijesundara following a trial.

He was charged with attempting to cause the commission of acts of violence or racial or communal disharmony relating to articles he published in a magazine, the North Eastern Herald, supporting Tamil rebels and donating money for the purpose of terrorism through the collection funds for the magazine.

His lawyers said they were appealing the sentence.

Local and international media rights groups have been carrying on a campaign for his release, but the government has maintained that his actions had helped the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the writings were damaging to the country.

He is the first journalist to the charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has been in existence for more than 30 years.

The Defence Ministry earlier accused Tissainayagam of helping the pro-rebel website Tamilnet in addition obtaining funds from the LTTE to run his magazine.

Tamil rebels were defeated by a major military campaign carried out by government forces in May after the rebel leadership was killed. (dpa)