(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, RSF protested the spying allegations, published in three governmental newspapers, levelled against T. Sivaram, editor of the online newspaper “Tamilnet”, and Vasantharaja, journalist for the private weekly “Ravaya”, among others. RSF asked the minister to do everything in his power to ensure that “such […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, RSF protested the spying allegations, published in three governmental newspapers, levelled against T. Sivaram, editor of the online newspaper “Tamilnet”, and Vasantharaja, journalist for the private weekly “Ravaya”, among others. RSF asked the minister to do everything in his power to ensure that “such intimidation tactics against independent journalists be brought to an end” and that “action be taken against the authors of such accusations.” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said: “RSF is all the more worried as experience shows that allegations of LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] links against journalists seriously endanger their lives.”
According to information gathered by RSF, Sivaram and Vasantharaja have been the victims of a vilification campaign. On 17 June 2001, the Tamil-language daily “Thinakaran”, the Sinhala-language daily “Divaina” and the English-language government owned “Daily News” published articles claiming that the journalists’ names were listed in the online magazine “The Global Spy Magazine”, alleging that they were LTTE spies or sympathisers. The front page article in “Thinakaran”, which also bore Sivaram’s picture, alleged that the editor was involved in the murder of two men who were accused of treason by the LTTE.
The following day, two men who appeared to be armed attempted to enter Sivaram’s Colombo home, where the editor rarely stays due to fears for his safety. Sivaram was previously the target of a vilification campaign in July 2000, when he was accused of being “a Colombo-based LTTE spy”, a traitor to his country and an LTTE sympathiser (see IFEX alert of 27 July 2000).
In October, Jaffna-based Tamil journalist and BBC contributor Nimalarajan was assassinated in his home. He had also been accused of having LTTE links. No one has been arrested in connection to his murder (see IFEX alerts of 19 and 6 April 2001, 10 November and 20 October 2000).
