(FMM/IFEX) – The following is a 15 August 2006 FMM press release: Free Media Movement is disturbed by the authorities’ continuing harassment of members of the Udayan group of newspapers The Colombo-based newspaper “Sudaroli” was searched by armed state security personnel at 4:00 p.m. today. No advance warning about this search was provided to the […]
(FMM/IFEX) – The following is a 15 August 2006 FMM press release:
Free Media Movement is disturbed by the authorities’ continuing harassment of members of the Udayan group of newspapers
The Colombo-based newspaper “Sudaroli” was searched by armed state security personnel at 4:00 p.m. today. No advance warning about this search was provided to the newspaper. “Sudaroli” is a Tamil-language daily published by the Udayan group.
Security personnel directly approached staff without informing the Managing Director, despite his presence. They searched the office thoroughly, including the printing press area, the finance section, the circulation section, and the editorial and prepress sections. They demanded to see the national identity cards of editorial staff, even though this staff possessed media identity cards provided by the Information Department.
In another development, a delivery agent for “Uthayan”, a Tamil daily newspaper published in Jaffna, was shot dead at Puthur junction around 11:00 a.m. today. The driver, Sathasivam Baskaran, aged 44, was on his way back after distributing the newspaper during curfew relaxation hours. Jaffna district has been under curfew for four consecutive days. According to “Udayan” management, his identity as an “Udayan” employee was known to the security personnel at the time of killing.
Mr. Sathasivam Baskaran is the fourth employee of the Udayan newspaper group to be slain in recent weeks.
“Uthayan” Managing Director Mr. Saravanabhavan told FMM that the security provided to Editor Mr. N. Vithyatharan and himself was withdrawn yesterday at noon.
FMM urges the authorities to look into these incidents urgently and to take immediate remedial measures so that members of the Udayan group of newspapers are able to publish without hindrance.
