Ramasamy Sivarajah, journalist and editor of the Thamilan newspaper, filed a complaint with the police against two persons who claimed to be Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and attempted to enter his house on Thursday.
The men in question arrived at Sivarajah’s apartment at around 2.35 AM and wanted to “search the premises”.
The security guards told the men to come with police, following which an argument ensued between him and the men. The guard finally managed to prevent them from entering the premises.
Sivarajah then launched a complaint with the police via email about the incident. It is suspected that the men might be a part of an attempt to intimidate Sivarajah and curtail press freedom.
The incident follows an increased crackdown on Tamil journalists across the North-East with Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association issuing a statement condemning the repeated intimidation of their journalists by Sri Lankan police. It also comes as the Sri Lankan government considers introducing a bill that would target "defamatory" websites. This has been widely criticised as a means of stifling dissent and free speech in Sri Lanka.
Read more here.
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