(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is extremely concerned about the safety of Vediwel Thevaraj, editor-in-chief of the Tamil daily “Veerakesari”, following a series of death threats. In a letter to the Minister of Public Security, Law and Order, Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, the organisation urged Colombo authorities to take the threats seriously in the wake the 29 April 2005 […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is extremely concerned about the safety of Vediwel Thevaraj, editor-in-chief of the Tamil daily “Veerakesari”, following a series of death threats.
In a letter to the Minister of Public Security, Law and Order, Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, the organisation urged Colombo authorities to take the threats seriously in the wake the 29 April 2005 murder of one of Thevaraj’s colleagues, Dharmeratnam Sivaram.
“It is urgent to arrest the authors of these threats before they can put them into effect,” the organisation said.
On two successive days after the abduction of Sivaram, on 29 and 30 April, unidentified individuals speaking in Singalese and Tamil telephoned Thevaraj’s home. Most of the calls were taken by the journalist’s niece, who was told that her uncle would be next on the list.
When he received the news of Sivaram’s death, Thevaraj, who was in Melbourne at the time, decided to cut short his visit and to return to Colombo. On 1 May, he went to the deceased man’s home where his body was still lying. Throughout his visit, from about 3:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (local time), Thevaraj noticed a suspicious looking grey jeep parked in front of the house – the same type of vehicle that had been used to abduct the journalist.
Later in the evening, after returning home, Thevaraj was awoken by noises from the street. He opened the door to see where the noises had come from and recognised the same grey jeep, this time parked a few metres from his house.
The following day, the Tamil journalist received another anonymous call at his office repeating the death threats.
Thevaraj travelled to Canada on a long-planned trip from 5-21 May. He has received no new threats since his return to Colombo.
