(RSF/IFEX) – In a 3 April 2000 letter to Post, Telecommunications and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, RSF protested a grenade attack against the house of journalist Nellai G. Nadesan. RSF asked the minister to open an inquiry so that full light might be shed on the case. According to Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, “the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 3 April 2000 letter to Post, Telecommunications and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera, RSF protested a grenade attack against the house of journalist Nellai G. Nadesan. RSF asked the minister to open an inquiry so that full light might be shed on the case. According to Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, “the repeated attacks against private and state media represent a deterioration of the state of press freedom in Sri Lanka.” Four journalists have been killed in the country since November 1999. RSF asked Samaraweera to enforce the law and ensure journalists’ safety.
According to the information collected by RSF, on 3 April, a grenade was thrown at the house of Nadesan, a correspondent with the Tamil-language daily “Weerakesari” in the eastern city of Batticalao. The attack, at around midnight (local time), caused only material damage. The journalist is well known for his professionalism in an area rocked by clashes between the army and Tamil independence fighters of the Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE). Nadesan lives in an area controlled by the army and a Tamil militia that backs the government. Observers pointed out that these circumstances make it very difficult to enter the area, and blamed the army or militia for the attack.
