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Alert

CPJ concerned for detained journalist

(CPJ/IFEX) - In a 16 April 2001 letter to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, CPJ expressed deep concern over the security of A.S.M. Fasmi, a reporter for the Tamil-language newspaper "Thinakkural". Fasmi, who is based on the northern island of Mannar, says he has been detained, interrogated, and threatened repeatedly with death since he reported on the alleged rape of two Tamil women detained by local security forces last month.




On the morning of 21 March, the day Fasmi's report on the rape charges appeared in "Thinakkural", intelligence officers from the 21-5 army brigade in Mannar summoned the journalist for interrogation, according to his own account. Fasmi says the officers accused him of plotting to bribe members of the armed forces and thereby tarnish their image. An army officer told him he was under arrest, and transferred him to the crime branch of the Mannar police.

Fasmi was released at around 4 p.m., after signing a sworn statement. Since then, the journalist has reported receiving numerous phone calls threatening his life, and believes he is in serious danger.

Recommended Action

Send appeals to the president:

• noting that physical attacks against journalists are seldom prosecuted in Sri Lanka, heightening the risks for those who report on sensitive subjects. For instance, authorities have not, vigorously pursued the assassins of Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, a Jaffna-based Tamil journalist who was killed on 19 October 2000 (see IFEX alerts of 6 April 2001, 10 November and 20 October 2000)
  
• adding that Tamil journalists are especially vulnerable to attacks, often provoked by allegations linking them to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
  
• asking Her Excellency to guarantee that Fasmi is not harmed in any way
  
• calling on her to ensure that Sri Lankan security forces do not use their considerable emergency
  powers to harass or detain Fasmi in the future

Appeals To

Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike KumaratungaPresident, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo-1, Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 1 333 703

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.