A 20-year-old Tamil journalist was attacked by two unidentified persons on Brown Road, Jaffna, last Friday.
Vijayanathan Janarthan, a media correspondent at Tamil newspaper, Valampuri was intercepted by two masked men on a motorbike and attacked using a barbed wire. Janarthan, who was on his way back to his hometown of Urelu from the Valampuri office after work, had his motorbike smashed up by the assailants.
The attackers fled on their motorbikes after nearby onlookers rushed to the scene after hearing about the incident.
A complaint has been lodged with the police in relation to this incident.
This incident adds to the long-list of Tamil journalist attacks in the North-East and also emphasises the island-wide problem of journalist security. Recently multiple major human rights organisations warned the Sri Lanka government about the targeted detention and the intimidations of lawyers, activists, human rights defenders, and journalists in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan President also recently demanded that social media accounts are also thoroughly monitored and under surveillance.
