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…
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,…
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…
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…
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.
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…
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.…
New York, January 24, 2006—An unidentified gunman killed Tamil journalist Subramaniyam Sugitharajah as the reporter was on his way to work this morning in the eastern port town of Trincomalee. Colleagues believe he was killed for his journalism. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which is investigating the motive for the attack, called on Norwegian peace…
DECEMBER 15, 2005—JANUARY 5, 6, 2006 Yarl Thinakkurl Joy Jeyakumar, Veerakesari Namathu Eelanaadu HARASSED The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance said Tamil journalists were targeted several times for official harassment. The claims came at a time of rising tensions between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil separatist groups.