Sri Lanka
Journalists urge release of Tamil editorPosted Mar 10 2009
Members of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have urged the Sri Lankan government to release Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, the editor of a Tamil-language newspaper who was arrested in connection with an air raid by Tamil Tiger guerrillas.
Vithyatharan's newspaper has openly criticized the government in its all-out push to end the war with the Tamil Tigers.
CPJ condemned the arrest saying, “Vithyatharan's detention is an outright act of repression of media critical of the government.”
In a statement, CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz said, “Nadesapillai Vithyatharan has been a respected journalist for more than 25 years in Sri Lanka. The nature of his arrest and the allegations … point to more government repression of critical reporting. We call for his immediate release and are concerned that like other arrested journalists he will be held for a lengthy period. This is a tactic we have seen before in Sri Lanka.”
Initially, police had reported that Vithyatharan was kidnapped, but later admitted they had detained him.
A police spokesman told the BBC they were questioning the journalist for a second day and did not know whether formal charges would be brought against him.
More information
- CBC News