cross-ethnic pain remembering crimes against journalists

7/24/2019 Cross-Ethnic Pain Remembering Crimes Against Journalists

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Cross-Ethnic Pain: Remembering CrimesAgainst Journalists

Inside Sandya Eknaligoda's home
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Sandya Eknaligoda


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)These !ournalists have no eapons but the pen, Sandya said urging for the 9overnment toe"pedite these cases and bring a measure of peace to the !ournalists families.

rageeths case has seen some progress in the recent past, ith the %ourt of $ppeal recently

ordering that the $rmy %ommander and the &irector of (ntelligence : Sri 8ankan $rmy be

named as parties in the habeas corpus petition pertaining to rageeths disappearance. rior to

this, the %(& probe uncovered that rageeth may have been murdered, ith his body dumped in

the seas off Trincomalee.Sandya blames the previous 9overnment, headed by former resident ;ahinda ation that all is not perfect. $t the back of their

home, Sandya shos us a large mural painted by her sons.

$ copse of trees stands on the right4 one of the trees has been cut and is being bundled into ahite van. )The absence of ar does not e3ual the presence of peace the slogan reads, and

)*e demand !ustice.

;any of the cases against !ournalists continue to languish unresolved. ?olloing the @6

Human


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that much needs to be done to prevent crimes of impunity against !ournalists. The centerpieceof the Sunday Thinakkural office is a large noticeboard on hich are pinned names and pictures

of slain !ournalists. rominently featured here are rageeth Eknaligoda and 8asantha

*ickrematunge : but there are also names here that are not seen so often in mainstream press.

6ames such as Sugeedara!an folloed by the ords )B years, and the killers are out free.

Aharathi


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;eanhile, remananth Thevanayagam, editor of @thayan nespaper in affna said there asno investigation on the many attacks that had occurred on media institution and against media

personnel in the 6orth. D*e feel the 9overnment is neglecting !ournalists from the 6orth. They

treat us as provincial !ournalists. -et there are many nespapers based in affna hich cover

national issues,D Thevanayagam said.

He added that there ere many other cases such as that of 6imalara!an hich ere unresolved,

and hich had not been taken up by the @6 Human en the right to Dfreedom of speech and

e"pression, including publication.D -et this constitutional right has been violated for many

scribes in the past.


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son of a leading member of the Eelam eople's &emocratic arty, a Tamil party orkingith the government, &eshapriya said.&evakumar as one of the fe remaining !ournalists

reporting from the peninsula, a focal point in the civil ar beteen the predominantly

Sinhalese government and the 8TTE, hich claims territory for an ethnic Tamil homeland.

%onflict orsened in recent years, and a /11/ cease#fire agreement as abandoned in

anuary /11=.

J. Selvara!ah ine $ravali on a freelance basis.M. Subramaniyam Sugithara!ah,Sudar Oli anuary /0, /11B, in Trincomalee, Sri 8ankaI $n

unidentified gunman killed Tamil !ournalist Sugithara!ah as the reporter as on his ay to

ork in the eastern port ton of Trincomalee. Sugithara!ah, a part#time reporter for Tamil#

language daily Sudar Oli, as killed !ust eeks after he reported on the anuary / killing of

five Tamil students in Trincomalee, according to nes ebsite Tamil6et. ;ilitaryspokesmen initially said that the men ere killed by their on grenade in a botched attack

on the army, but photographs taken by Sugithara!ah shoed that the men had died of

gunshot ounds. The government ordered a probe into the deaths. D;r. Sugithara!ah as a

fearless reporter and e believe he as killed to demorali>e !ournalists orking in the

northeast,D Sudar Oli ;anaging &irector E. Saravanapavam told The $ssociated ress. Theoffices of Sudar Oli had been attacked repeatedly in the preceding months. On $ugust /,/11M, a grenade attack at the printing press killed a security guard. ust days earlier, activists

from the eople's 8iberation ?ront 5L7 political party turned over to police a photographer

for the nespaper and accused him of spying for the 8iberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

58TTE7. The nespaper and its affna#based sister publication @thayan came under attack

by both 8TTE and anti#8TTE forces in political violence.

B.


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opular Tamil broadcaster ed Selvara!ah for

broadcasting anti#8TTE programs. Selvara!ah as a radio and television host for /1 years,presenting nes programs for the state#run Sri 8anka Aroadcasting %orporation 5S8A%7 and

more recently for the Sri 8anka ation. 8ocal nespapers reported that Selvara!ah also produced

the S8A% program D(thaya Leenai,D a program knon for critici>ing the 8TTE, and

allegedly funded by the opposition Tamil political party, the Eelam eople's &emocratic

arty. Selvara!ah's husband as affiliated ith the formerly militant and no mainstream

group, the eople's 8iberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam 58OTE7, according to local

nes reports and sources. 8OTE is critical of the 8TTE4 the 8TTE accuses 8OTE of

attacking its members, according to The $ssociated ress. Sri 8anka's &aily ;irror 3uoted

police as saying that they suspected the couple may have been murdered because ofSelvara!ah's anti#8TTE programs. Aut their connection to 8OTE also raised the possibility

that their killing may have been part of a larger cycle of violence and could be connected to

the $pril murder of ell#knon pro# 8TTE Tamil !ournalist &harmeratnam Sivaram, local

sources told %. Sivaram as a former member of 8OTE ho defected to the 8TTE.

olitical and ethnic factions began a series of revenge killings across the country last year

hen a Tamil rebel leader knon as %olonel Naruna split from the 8TTE. The government

declared a state of emergency on $ugust 2J and resident %handrika Numaratunga accused

the 8TTE of killing Nadirgamar, a critic of the 8TTE.

K. &harmeratnam Sivaram,Tamil6et and &aily ;irror $pril /, /11M, in %olombo, Sri

8ankaI Sivaram as abducted on the night of $pril /= and found dead the ne"t morningfrom gunshot ounds to the head. ?our unidentified men forced Sivaram into a !eep as he

left a restaurant directly across from the Aambalapitya police station in the capital, according

to itness accounts. olice told the $ssociated ress that they received an anonymous call

early the ne"t morning giving the location of Sivaram's body in Talangama, several miles

outside of %olombo. The Tamil6et nes ebsite reported that his body as found in a high#

security area behind a parliament building. $ founding member and contributor to Tamil6et

and a military and political columnist for the English language &aily ;irror, Sivaram rote

sympathetically about the rebel group the 8iberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 58TTE7. olice

searched his house tice last year looking for eapons but did not find anything. The 8TTE

split into to arring factions in /110 after a rebel leader knon as %olonel Naruna brokeaay to form his on rival army in eastern Sri 8anka. $ cycle of violence has escalated

from the East throughout the country, ith the arring Tamil factions going on killing sprees

that target each other's alleged supporters, including !ournalists. $ pro#8TTE Tamil

lamaker, $mirthanathan $daikkalanathan, told the $ssociated ress that Sivaram's last

article for the Tamil#language daily Lirekasari critici>ed the rebel leader Naruna. Sivaram

had received death threats in recent eeks, according to e"iled Tamil !ournalists.

=. Aala 6adara!ah (yer,Thinamurasu and Thinakaran $ugust 2B, /110, in %olombo, Sri
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8ankaI (yer, a !ournalist, riter, and political activist ith the opposition Tamil group theEelam eople's &emocratic arty 5E&7, as shot and killed by unidentified assailants in

the capital, %olombo.To men on a motorcycle gunned don (yer, a veteran activist and

riter, hen he left home for ork in the southern *ellaatte area of the capital on the

morning of $ugust 2B, according to local police. The E&'s official nes ebsite reported

that the 8TTE had threatened (yer before his murder.(yer as a media officer and a senior

member of the E& ho orked on the editorial board of the Tamil#language eeklyThinamurasu and rote a political column for the state#run Tamil daily Thinakaran. He as

knon for critici>ing the 8TTE's human rights abuses and had orked closely ith Tamil

political groups, including the 8TTE, during the last /1 years, according to local

!ournalists.Tensions beteen the to rival Tamil groups flared in the spring after the E&

supported a breakaay faction of the 8TTE headed by a rebel leader knon as %olonel

Naruna.

. $iyathurai 6adesan,Lirakesari ;ay J2, /110, in Aatticaloa, Sri 8ankaI 6adesan, a veteran

Tamil !ournalist ith the national Tamil#language daily Lirakesari, as shot by unidentified

assailants in Aatticaloa, a ton on the eastern coast of Sri 8anka about 2JM miles 5/2B

kilometers7 from the capital, %olombo, according to international nes reports and local!ournalists. 6adesan, ho had orked at Lirakesari for /1 years, as on his ay to ork

hen he as ambushed near a Hindu temple. The assailants escaped, and no group claimed

responsibility. 6adesan as an aard#inning !ournalist ho used the pen name 6ellai 9.

6adesan. He also reported for the (nternational Aroadcast 9roup, a Tamil#language radio

station that broadcasts from 8ondon. Liolence erupted in Sri 8anka's eastern region in the

eeks before the murder after the main Tamil rebel group, the 8iberation Tigers of Tamil

Eelam 58TTE7, launched a military offensive against a breakaay faction headed by a

soldier knon as %olonel Naruna. 8ocal !ournalists said that 6adesan as sympathetic to

the 8TTE. The 8TTE accused the Sri 8ankan army and members of the breakaay faction of

6adesan's murder, according to the pro#8TTE (nternet nes site Tamilnet. 6adesan had beenharassed and threatened before his death because he had critici>ed the government and

security forces, according to % research. On une 2K, /112, a Sri 8ankan army officer

summoned 6adesan for an interrogation and threatened the !ournalist ith arrest unless he

ceased reporting about the army.

21.;ylvaganam 6imalara!an,AA%, Lirakesari, ations,

including the AA%'s Tamil and Sinhala#language services, the Tamil#language daily

Lirakesari, and the Sinhala#language eekly one in central affna ton. $rmy officers ere summoned to the house, and

they took the !ournalist to affna Hospital, here he as pronounced dead. The !ournalist's

parents and his 22#year#old nephe ere seriously in!ured in the attack. 8ocal !ournalists

suspect that 6imalara!an's reporting on vote# rigging and intimidation in affna during the

recent parliamentary elections may have led to his murder. Sri 8ankan president %handrika

Aandaranaike Numaratunga ordered defense authorities to launch an immediate in3uiry into
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the assassination. (n an October /1 letter, % urged the president to ensure that theinvestigation as pursued vigorously and its findings made public. olice failed to respond

to repeated re3uests for information regarding the status of the investigation, hich appeared

to have stalled by year's end.

cross-ethnic pain remembering crimes against journalists

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