Sri Lankan’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) interrogated the editor of the Uthayan newspaper about an article published three years ago today, on Maaveerar Naal, as Tamils around the world commemorated their war heroes.

Thangarajah Prabhakaran, editor of the Jaffna-based Tamil daily Uthayan, was interrogated for over 4 hours earlier today.

The interrogation was due to the publication of a newspaper article related to the birthday of Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), from 2020.

Earlier this month Uthayan journalist Dileep Amuthan was also subject to a 4-hour interrogation by the TID for the same article.

Weeks after the publication, Sri Lankan police filed a case against the Jaffna-based paper under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Former MP and Uthayan’s publisher E. Saravanapavan said at the time that the case was “a way to persecute all those Tamil people, journalists and media houses, who espouse Tamil nationalism".

Saravanapavan claimed that neither he nor the newspaper's office were officially informed of the charges, and that they had found out about the case through online news reports.

The former MP outlined the newspaper's history as a key target for repressive forces, starting with the shelling of the office by the Indian Peacekeeping Forces (IPKF) in 1985 which resulted in the killing of 7 bystanders. Uthayan's journalists and offices also frequently came under attack by Sri Lanka's security forces and paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

 See: Uthayan ‘worst hit’ of Sri Lanka’s media - RSF (2006)

See also: Jaffna protests Uthayan killings (2006)

At the time, Sri Lankan police had also arrested at least 19 Tamils in Batticaloa alone for allegedly posting birthday wishes on social media for the LTTE leader.