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Home >Tamils - a Trans State Nation > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Indictment against Sri Lanka > Censorship, Disinformation & Murder of Journalists > Committee to Protect Journalists deeply concerned about recent attacks on ethnic Tamil journalists |
INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA Committee to Protect Journalists |
New York, December 21, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about recent attacks on ethnic Tamil journalists amid a spike in violence that threatens a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. On Monday, security forces assaulted three Tamil journalists reporting on a student demonstration in the northern city of Jaffna, according to the Colombo-based press freedom advocacy group Free Media Movement. Thinakkural reporter T. Sabeswaran, Thinakaran reporter Wintson Jeyan and Namathu Eelanaadu reporter G. Jerad—all journalists for Tamil-language dailies—were beaten and their cameras destroyed while they covered student protests against army harassment. Several protesters were wounded when baton-wielding soldiers charged the demonstration. The army also opened fire to disperse the thousands of protesters, but the Defense Ministry said that no one was injured by the gunfire, according to The Associated Press.
Also in Jaffna, armed soldiers searched the office of Namathu Eelanaadu last Thursday, questioning workers and checking national identity cards. Military officials did not give any reason for searching the office, but said their actions were part of security measures in the Tamil-majority area, according to Indo-Asian News Service. |