(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed its concern for the safety of Tamil journalist Dhamaratnam Sivaram (“Taraki”), editor of the online news service Tamilnet ( http://www.tamilnet.com ), following a 3 May 2004 raid on his home by Colombo police. In a letter to Interior Minister Amarasiri Dodangoda, the organisation called for an inquiry into the reasons […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed its concern for the safety of Tamil journalist Dhamaratnam Sivaram (“Taraki”), editor of the online news service Tamilnet ( http://www.tamilnet.com ), following a 3 May 2004 raid on his home by Colombo police.
In a letter to Interior Minister Amarasiri Dodangoda, the organisation called for an inquiry into the reasons behind the raid, and demanded the government guarantee the journalist’s protection.
“Dharmaratnam Sivaram has sufficient enemies to account for a possible vendetta scenario by armed groups who may have been the subject of his attacks during recent elections, or who oppose his support of the Norwegian-sponsored peace process,” said RSF. The search comes as Norwegian diplomats are in Colombo, at the invitation of the president, to broker a peace accord.
Around 40 police officers raided Sivaram’s home on the night of 3 May, World Press Freedom Day. The journalist was not home at the time but his wife and three children say they felt threatened. The police claimed to be looking for weapons, and proceeded to search Sivaram’s office.
Sivaram, who is a regular contributor to the Tamil broadcast of the BBC World Service, has also received threats from unknown sources. Local journalists told RSF that paramilitary groups may be targeting Tamilnet for its coverage of a recent split within the Tamil Tigers.
Sivaram told the organisation he considered the incidents a “serious threat to [his] life.”
In 2001, Sivaram was branded a spy for the Tamil Tigers and attacked by armed men (see IFEX alerts of 2 January 2002, 22, 21 and 20 June 2001). The organisation recalled that another Tamil journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, was murdered a few days after the October 2000 elections (see IFEX alerts of 19 and 6 April, 5 January 2001 and 20 October 2000).
