A senior Sinhala journalist was interrogated by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) for around six hours for allegedly threatening national security after reporting on the arrest of Kilinochchi’s Judicial Medical Officer (JMO).
Kilinochchi JMO and senior Tamil doctor Dr S Sivaruban was arrested by TID on August 18 for alleged links to terrorist activities.
Sinhala journalist Thinasena Rathgama was summoned to the TID in Colombo after publishing reports that the terrorism police were alleging Dr Sivaruban was involved in an assassination plot against former Defence Secretary and presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa and having links with the LTTE.
Rathgama said he had been accused of threatening national security by publishing the reports.
Dr Sivaruban, who remains in detention, was involved in several high profile cases as JMO, including providing medical reports linking the Sri Lankan army with the so called 'grease devil' attacks of 2011. He was also a key medical witness in the case of the rape and murder of a child by a member of the EPDP paramilitary group.
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