(CPJ/IFEX) – On 12 February 1998, the home of Iqbal Athas, one of Sri Lanka’s leading military reporters who is widely known for his column “Situation Report” in the Colombo “Sunday Times”, was raided. At approximately 21:00, as Athas was watching television with his wife and seven-year-old daughter on the second floor of his Colombo […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 12 February 1998, the home of Iqbal Athas, one of Sri
Lanka’s leading military reporters who is widely known for his column
“Situation Report” in the Colombo “Sunday Times”, was raided. At
approximately 21:00, as Athas was watching television with his wife and
seven-year-old daughter on the second floor of his Colombo residence, five
armed men forced their way into the house and assaulted a household watchman
and the family cook at gunpoint. A man broke into the room where Athas was
with his family, put an automatic pistol to his head and demanded that he go
downstairs. The men refused to identify themselves and rudely claimed that
prostitutes were being kept in the house. Based on their appearance and the
automatic pistols they were carrying, Athas believed they were soldiers.
As Athas struggled with the men in his room, his daughter and wife were also
accosted. When a man pointed a pistol at Athas’ daughter, she became
hysterical and ran sobbing to her father. Before Athas could be led away,
one of the armed men told his partners to call off the attack, apparently
worried that they might be caught. The journalist speculated that the men
aborted the attack either because a police vehicle was passing through the
neighborhood or because they became alarmed when his daughter began
screaming. At the time when the men withdrew from the house, neighbours
counted some 20 to 25 other armed men in the area outside the house.
Athas immediately filed a police complaint of the incident and informed Sri
Lankan Defense Secretary Chandranda de Silva, who ordered that an armed
guard be posted outside his home. Some three hours after the attack,
however, a vehicle which earlier had been seen transporting the attackers
returned to the neighborhood, according to Athas and his colleagues, and
parked for a while outside the journalist’s home before leaving the vicinity.
Athas, the recipient of the CPJ’s 1994 International Press Freedom award,
believes the attack came as a direct result of a recent series of exposes he
has written for the “Sunday Times” on military corruption and irregularities
in air force procurement practices. The incident follows an apparent attempt
to discredit Athas in November, when a former Tamil Tiger guerrilla stated
in a widely-seen televised interview that his “Sunday Times” reports were of
great interest to the guerrillas fighting a secessionist war against the Sri
Lankan army. In June 1997, Athas reported that armed men had placed his home
under surveillance. According to the CPJ, he has been the object of repeated
harassment and intimidation, probably due to his “Sunday Times” military
affairs reports.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
incident
the individuals responsible for this heinous attack and guaranteeing the
safety of Iqbal Athas and his family
Appeals To
Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President
Office of the President
Galle Face
Colombo 1, Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 1 44 6657/54 6657/33 3702/33 3703
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
