Sri Lankan police have assaulted a Tamil journalist in Jaffna earlier today, leading to him being admitted into hospital for treatment of his injuries
Journalist Nadarajah Kugaraj had travelled to Kokkuvil to cover an attack on a house in the area, which reportedly had petrol bombs thrown at it overnight.
Whilst at the scene, Sri Lankan police from Koppay assaulted the journalist, who is also a former LTTE cadre, leaving him injured and bloodied.
He has since been admitted to Jaffna hospital.
The attack on Kugaraj comes as Sri Lankan security forces have stepped up their intimidation and harassment of journalists in recent months. Earlier this month freelance journalist Selvaraja Sumanthan was photographed and videoed by soldiers in Mullaitivu, before being warned by a senior army official to halt his work and leave the area.
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Sri Lanka has historically been one of the most dangerous places in the world for a journalist, with report by Together Against Genocide finding that from 2004 until 2009 at least 48 journalists were killed. At least 41 of those media workers were Tamil. See more here.
