The murder and abduction of journalists and attacks on press offices in Sri Lanka is state sponsored said the Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph , on Saturday. "Many journalists are being murdered, are disappearing, and their offices are being attacked, it is an terrible situation that continues to persist for a long time," the Bishop said. "Government sponsored mob are carrying out such ill activities fearing that truth will come out," he added.
Death threats were issued via telephone to a journalist in Vavuniya, Navarathinam Kapilanath, on Saturday night warning he would killed, reported Global Tamil News , as well as fellow journalists based in Jaffna. "You do not know us. Do you not wish to live after complaining about us to the police," the anonymous caller told Kapilanath after he said he would file a complaint with the police. The phone calls were made from two different phone numbers said Kapilanath, who is also the deputy leader of the Vanni Journalists' Club.
A 24 year old Tamil woman, named Jeyavarna Thuraisingham, has been reported missing in Jaffna, Uthayan reports. According to her relatives she had travelled to Jaffna Teaching Hospital due to an illness on Wednesday, however has not been seen since. Her relatives have filed a missing persons report at Jaffna police station on Thursday.
The 157 Tamil asylum seekers, who had been detained in Western Australia following over a month at sea, were transferred to Nauru in secret overnight. According to the Guardian newspaper, eyewitnesses in Nauru said "many of the Tamil men had rips in their shirts after they were forcibly put on the plane", describing the asylum seekers, who arrived at noon on Saturday, as "traumatised". See here for report by the Guardian. Late on Friday night, Australia's immigration minister, Scott Morrison, told journalists at News Corp that a "secret overnight operation" was taking place to transfer the asylum seekers.
The Daily Mirror newspaper stopped its journalists from covering a protest organised by the Jaffna Press Club , condemning the ongoing repression of journalists in the North, the Sinhala paper Ravaya reported. "Advisor to the Jaffna Media Association, R. Thayaparan said that seven journalists had asked permission to participate in the protest from the Human Resources Department of the Head Office, which had informed them that if they were to attend, they needed to resign from their jobs," Ravaya said. See translation and original article in Sinhalese here . See also: Media minister says Tamil...
Photographs Sri Lankan Army The Sri Lankan military laid the foundation stone at the site of a new Officer's Mess being built at its army base in Kilinochchi, within the Tamil areas of the island.
The Sri Lankan army warned on Saturday that it would take action against anyone it deemed to be "inciting violence", the Daily Mirror reported. "Certain parties with the intent of creating disharmony among communities were circulating a false message via SMS and social media, particularly among the Muslim community, promoting violence," the army's spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya was quoted by the paper as saying. “There is no truth in the content of such messages and the relevant authorities have been alerted to take action against those who circulate false information with the...
The Sri Lankan military's article ridiculing the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, has sparked cross party outrage in Tamil Nadu. “India should treat the remarks as not just against the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister but against the Prime Minister of the country. It should convey its condemnation to the Sri Lankan government,” DMK president, and arch-rival, M. Karunanidhi said in a statement, The Hindu reported. The PMK founder, S. Ramadoss, MDMK leader Vaiko and the CPI secretary, G. Ramakrishnan echoed his comments, with Ramadoss urging New Delhi to summon the Sri Lankan High Commissioner and demand an apology from the Sri Lankan president.
Ryan Goodman, Professor of Law and Co-Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law has called on the United States to prosecute Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for war crimes, highlighting various laws that the administration may be able to pursue charges against the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary. Writing in Just Security this week, Goodman stated that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a US citizen, could face charges under the War Crimes Act of 1996, as well as coming under investigation from other agencies for immigration fraud and possible tax evasion. Goodman added that the Justice Department could also consider pursuing civil liability, for charges such as “torture committed by a US citizen abroad of foreign nationals” and witness tampering. His piece is the second in a series arising out of a presentation he made to a US Congressional briefing earlier this year. See his full opinion piece here .
A court case against seven Sri Lankan navy personnel, accused of gang raping two Tamil girls in Karainagar earlier this month, has been postponed once more, the Uthayan reported. The Jaffna based newspaper said the case will now be heard on September 4, as no one was present to represent the two victims aged 9 and 11. All seven Sri Lankan Navy personnel are currently on bail. The rape of the school girls, which reportedly occurred for 11 days, has been condemned by locals, who protested against the ongoing rape and sexual assault against Tamil children by military personnel, and also called for an end to the intimidation and harassment of victims.