[HCDX] Srilankan Police raid Tamil journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam ('Taraki') home on Press Freedom Day

["prabkar" <bcdxer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Srilankan Police raid Tamil journalist  Sivaram Dharmeratnam ('Taraki') home on Press Freedom Day


 
Sri Lanka Police raided a Tamil journalist's home in Colombo Monday night  [ 3rd of may]. During the raid by a large group of Police personnel, the journalist, Mr. Sivaram Dharmeratnam ('Taraki'), a political affairs columnist for English, Tamil newspapers published from Colombo and also for broadcasters like IBC-TAMIL,BBC etc. During this raid he was away in Batticaloa in connection with the World Press Freedom Day on Monday, 3 May. The journalist's family said that the raid was intimidating. Mr. Dharmeratnam was threatened and intimidated several times in the past for his comments and reporting on Tamil issues. 
Scores of special Policemen from the Kohuwela and Mount Lavinia Police stations, in the outer suburbs of Colombo, searched the journalist's house and its premises claiming they were looking for a cache of dangerous weapons hidden there. 

Police and Sri Lankan military stopped indiscriminately searching the homes of thousands of Tamils in Colombo and arresting and detaining them for prolonged periods after the Liberation Tigers insisted that the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) should be suspended until they reach a permanent settlement with Colombo to end the ethnic conflict. 

The PTA gives sweeping powers to the armed forces of Sri Lanka to indiscriminately search, arrest and detain persons for prolonged periods sans legal redress. 

"The raid on the Tamil journalist's home is an act of crude intimidation aimed at stepping up pressure on Mr. Sivaram's family and thereby prevent him from writing critically on sensitive issues affecting the Tamil people. That the Police should have chosen World Press Freedom Day to raid a well known Tamil journalist's home speaks volumes for the state of media freedom in Sri Lanka", said Mr. R. Thurairatnam, President of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance. 

Mr. Dharmeratnam was threatened with death in 2000 and 2001 by unidentified armed groups believed to be working clandestinely with the Sri Lankan state and by a Sinhala extremist group. 

The Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) in a letter to Sri Lanka's minister of home affairs, Mr. Amarasiri Dodangoda, on Tuesday expressed its fears for the safety of Tamil journalist Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram ("Taraki"). 

The following is the l text of the RSF statement published on its website

''Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) has expressed its fears for the safety of Tamil journalist Dhamaratnam Sivaram ("Taraki") head of the news website www.tamilnet.com, who has received threats and had his colombo home searched by srilankan police. 

"The international press freedom organisation urged home affairs minister Amarasiri Dodangoda for a public explanation of the treatment of Sivaram, a columnist and head of the news website www.tamilnet.com, and to provide genuine guarantees for his safety. 

"Around 40 police raided Sivaram's home on the night of 3 May 2004 - World Press Freedom Day. The journalist was out at the time but his wife and three children were at home. The family feel intimidated. They were only shown an identification card by a police officer. Police, who told the family that they were looking for weapons, searched his office. Possession of weapons is an offence for which an accused cannot be bailed under Sri lankan law. 

"Sivaram, a regular contributor to the Tamil service of the BBC World Service, also received threats from an unknown source. Journalists in Colombo told Reporters Without Borders that paramilitary groups from the east of the country could want revenge on Tamilnet.com for recent coverage of the split from LTTE led by former eastern commander Karuna. 

"'Dharmaratnam Sivaram has enough enemies for some vengeful groups to take advantage of the post-electoral situation to target a journalist known to have condemned them and for his stance in support of the Norwegian-sponsored peace process,' said Reporters Without Borders in its letter to Amarasiri Dodangoda. This search was conducted while Norwegian peace delegates are in Colombo at the invitation of the president. 

"Sivaram himself told the organisation, 'there appears to be a major threat to my life.' In 2001, Sivaram was branded as a spy for the Tamil Tigers and was attacked by armed men. 

Tamil journalist and IBC-TAMIL reporter Mylvaganam Nimalarajan was murdered by a pro-government tamil outfit in a place very neat srilankan military camp, a few days after October 2000 elections, the organisation recalled. 


source - www.tamilnet.com

D.Prabakaran
Head of  Department-mechanical engg
N.L.Polytechnic college
mettupalayam-641301
coimbatore district
Tamilnadu
INDIA
EMAIL bcdxer@xxxxxxxxxxx
mobile  98429 20549
    

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