(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders voiced relief on learning that Nadarajah Guruparan, the news director of the Colombo-based Tamil radio station Sooriyan, was freed early on 30 August 2006 after being held for 20 hours by his kidnappers, who told him he had been abducted “for a purpose”. Guruparan was released six kilometers from the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders voiced relief on learning that Nadarajah Guruparan, the news director of the Colombo-based Tamil radio station Sooriyan, was freed early on 30 August 2006 after being held for 20 hours by his kidnappers, who told him he had been abducted “for a purpose”.
Guruparan was released six kilometers from the place near his home in a Colombo suburb where he was abducted as he headed to work on 29 August. He was blindfolded for the entire time and never got a glimpse of his kidnappers.
His abduction is the latest example of the dramatic deterioration in the situation of press freedom in Sri Lanka. Cases of journalists and media assistants being threatened or murdered have increased sharply in recent months without any measures being taken to stop it. On 30 Augsut, Guruparan said he was wondering whether to continue working as a journalist.
