The editor of The Sunday Leader Frederica Jansz has been sacked after the new owner of the paper said articles in the paper were too critical of the president and his family.

The Sunday Leader is one of the few newspapers in Sri Lanka openly critical of the government and has previously been the target of violence, including the assassination of its previous editor, Lasantha Wikramatunge.

Jansz said that the new owner, Asanga Seneviratne, who is a friend of the Rajapakses, had asked her to stop carrying articles criticising the president.

"He said our articles were too slanderous of the president and the first family," Frederica Jansz said.

"He has terminated my contract in an email to me."

Frederica Jansz was subjected to a torrent of abuse by the defence secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse earlier this year, who claimed that the ’90% of people’ in Sri Lanka wanted her dead.