Sri Lanka: Tamil newspaper editor killed in Jaffna
New York, August 21, 2006—A Tamil newspaper editor and former member of parliament was killed outside his home on the besieged Jaffna Peninsula late Sunday, international and local media reported. Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, managing director of the Tamil-language Namathu Eelanadu newspaper was shot dead in Vellippalai. Police are investigating the murder, according to news reports. The…
Sri Lanka: Tamil newspapers curtail distribution after threats
New York, July 31, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by threats to distributors of two Tamil-language dailies, Sudar Oli and Thinakkural, in Batticaloa and Amparai districts of eastern Sri Lanka. Both newspapers stopped distributing in the area last week after they received threatening phone calls, their managing editors told CPJ. On July…
Sri Lanka: Freelance Journalist Shot Dead
New York, July 5, 2006 — The body of freelance reporter Sampath Lakmal, a contributor to the Sinhala-language weekly Sathdina, was found in a southern suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on Sunday. He had been shot after leaving his house to meet a contact on Saturday night, according to local media reports and the…
Sri Lanka: CPJ concerned by move to reinstate state-controlled Press Council
New York, June 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today about the Sri Lankan government’s reinstatement of a politically appointed Press Council with the authority to penalize news outlets and journalists for their reporting. Mass Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa announced on Thursday that the cabinet had approved the restoration of…
Tamil journalists in London threatened
JUNE 8, 2006 Posted: June 30, 2006 TBC Radio Station ATTACKED, THREATENED Journalists at the London-based Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) received death threats from members of the Sri Lankan separatist movement Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A group of five men attempted to break into the studio while it aired a political discussion program,…
Veteran journalist threatened in London
MAY 16, 2006 Posted: June 30, 2006 Neville De Silva, The Sunday Times, THREATENED A veteran Sri Lankan journalist based in London was threatened after a Web site that supports the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ((LTTE)) posted his picture and accused him of being a Sri Lankan government spy. Neville De Silva, U.K. correspondent…
In Sri Lanka, two killed in attack on Tamil newspaper
New York, May 2, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s attack on the Tamil-language daily Uthayan. Editor N. Vithayatharan confirmed to CPJ that five masked gunmen killed two employees and wounded at least two others, one seriously, when they sprayed the paper’s office with automatic weapons fire in Jaffna. CPJ calls on the government…
Journalist security cited as peace talks resume
Gentlemen: As you resume negotiations in Geneva today to establish a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka, we call your attention to the urgent issue of journalist security. The free flow of information, a vital ingredient in establishing the peace, is jeopardized by ongoing violence against the press.
Attacks on the Press 2005: Countries That Have Jailed Journalists (Follow Links for More Details)
AFGHANISTAN: 1 Ali Mohaqqiq Nasab, Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights) Imprisoned: October 1, 2005 The attorney general ordered editor Nasab’s arrest on blasphemy charges after the religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, Mohaiuddin Baluch, filed a complaint about his magazine. “I took the two magazines and spoke to the Supreme Court chief, who wrote to the attorney…
Attacks on the Press 2005: Sri Lanka
SRI LANKA The slow unraveling of a cease-fire between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) complicated Sri Lanka’s efforts to recover from the December 2004 tsunami and hindered the media’s ability to cover the disaster and other important stories. Two Tamil journalists were murdered in 2005 and others were threatened.…