Plainclothes Sri Lankan police officers arrived at the family home of exiled Tamil journalist Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and subjected his elderly father to intense interrogation, recording his statement for more than an hour, as the harassment of Tamil media workers continued.
This unsettling visit is connected to an ongoing court case involving allegations against journalists who were reporting on a protest led by farmers against former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe last year.
Sasikaran, a well-known Eelam Tamil journalist, has long been a target of intimidation due to his reporting on sensitive issues, including government actions and Tamil grievances. The harassment reached such a pitch that he eventually left the country, citing continuous threats to his life from both Sri Lankan government forces and armed paramilitary groups. This latest police visit underscores how these pressures have not abated under the new administration and appear to be intensifying even in his absence. During this incident, police questioned Sasikaran's father and raided their house.
This is not the first time that Sasikaran has come under scrutiny by Sri Lankan security forces and government agencies. In 2022 Batticaloa police served Tamil journalist Sasikaran with a restraining order, to ban him from covering a protest that the police claimed was planned against Sri Lanka's independence celebrations. The court order stated that the police allegedly received intelligence that local Tamil organisations and political parties were going to attend a 12-hour march. however, local journalists reportedly said that there were no protests planned.
Sasikaran is one of many Tamil journalists who have experienced intimidation tactics and court orders by Sri Lankan authorities to prohibit their reporting on key issues in the North-East. Last year, Sasikaran was interrogated for over two hours by Sri Lanka's Crime Prevention Unit, for allegedly organising an event in January 2021, commemorating the deaths of Indian fishermen who died at sea in 2020.
Sri Lanka is currently ranked 150th out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.