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Alert

Media personnel come under attack in Jaffna

(FMM/IFEX) - The following is an FMM press release:

ASSAULT ON MEDIA PERSONNEL IN JAFFNA

The Free Media Movement (FMM) is concerned about a reported assault on a journalist, and the damage caused to a motorcycle belonging to another journalist, by state security forces in the city of Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka. The incident took place while the journalists were covering a mass protest. Journalist Vincent Jeyan, of the Lake House Group's Thinakaran newspaper, was injured in the assault. He was admitted to Jaffna hospital and discharged after being treated the same day. A motorcycle belonging to journalist Ratnam Dayaparam, of Thinakkural, the Jaffna provincial edition of a national newspaper, was also damaged in the incident.

The media personnel were covering a public protest against the government of Sri Lanka in Jaffna on 4 March. They came under attack when security forces used force to disperse the crowd. According to reports, Jeyan was assaulted even after he identified himself as an accredited journalist.

FMM urges all media personnel covering public protests such as this to wear their media identity cards. The organisation also requests that the security forces allow media personnel to carry out their duties.

A number of incidents of this nature have recently been reported in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, involving both armed groups and unarmed civilians. FMM is concerned that these kinds of incidents prevent media personnel from carrying out their professional duties and, as a result, the "right to know" of citizens is violated. The organisation appeals to the security forces, armed groups and unarmed civilians not to harm media personnel or obstruct them from carrying out their duties.

Sunanda Deshapriya
Spokesperson
Free Media Movement