9 June 2004
VETERAN REPORTER GUNNED DOWN
The Free Media Movement (FMM) is organising a demonstration this week to protest the killing of journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan, a senior reporter shot dead last week in the eastern town of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.
FMM will join the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance in a demonstration in the capital, Colombo, to call for an inquiry into Nadesan's murder. On 31 May 2004, unidentified men shot and killed Nadesan while he was on his way to work. A correspondent for the Tamil-language newspaper "Virakesari" for the past 20 years, Nadesan was a known supporter of the armed opposition group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
He was also the vice-president of the Eastern Journalists Association and correspondent for Shakthi TV and the Tamil-language service of the London-based radio station, IBC News Service.
Nadesan's killing has prompted Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to write to Sri Lankan authorities urging a thorough investigation.
In the past two months, clashes have broken out between LTTE and a breakaway faction led by Colonel Karuna, notes CPJ. This has placed journalists in a more precarious position, says FMM. Most of the Tamil-language journalists in Batticaloa are either in hiding or have been forced to flee.
After a 20-year-long civil war, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government reached a cease-fire agreement in February 2002. The two sides are scheduled to resume talks in July.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1) Write to the Sri Lankan government using a sample letter by IFJ: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2535&Language=EN
2) Stay Informed. Visit:
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2004/Sri01june04na.html
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10223
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