7 August 2007

STUDENT JOURNALIST GUNNED DOWN IN FRONT OF HOME


A student journalist was gunned down in front of his home in Jaffna, report the Free Media Movement (FMM) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).

Nilakshan Sahapavan, a student journalist at Jaffna University's Media Resource Training Centre (MRTC), established by UNESCO, was shot on 1 August by unidentified gunmen in front of his house in Kokuvil, Jaffna, in the middle of the night. He later died in hospital from his injuries.

Kokuvil, just three miles away from Jaffna city, is heavily guarded by the Sri Lankan military. The shooting took place during curfew hours, which RSF says "raises questions about the possible complicity of the security forces."

RSF says Sahapavan was one of the editors of "Chaa'laram", a magazine linked to the Federation of Jaffna District Students that is known for supporting Tamil nationalism. Sahapavan attended an FMM seminar in Colombo with fellow MRTC students just a week before his death to discuss the situation of journalists in Jaffna. TamilNet reports that he had also recently commemorated the second anniversary of the death of journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram, a prominent Tamil journalist who was assassinated for his sympathetic views of the Tamil Tigers.

According to FMM, not a single investigation into a murdered journalist has been carried out to completion by Sri Lanka's government. Sahapavan is the eighth media worker killed in Jaffna since May 2006.

The International Press Freedom Mission, which includes IFEX members the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Press Institute (IPI) and RSF, visited Sri Lanka in June 2007 and named Jaffna one of the worst places to be a journalist.

Visit these links:
- FMM: http://tinyurl.com/23o5y3
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23134
- IFJ: http://ifj.org/default.asp?Index=5175&Language=EN
- International Press Freedom Mission June report: http://tinyurl.com/2fdbhg
- TamilNet: http://tinyurl.com/36kptj
(7 August 2007)



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Also from the Communiqué, 7 August 2007

INTERNATIONAL: IWPR ESTABLISHES SAHAR JOURNALISTS' ASSISTANCE FUND 7 August 2007 ZIMBABWE: PRESIDENT SIGNS SPYING BILL INTO LAW 7 August 2007 VENEZUELA: SUPREME COURT KEEPS RCTV ALIVE FOR NOW 7 August 2007 UNITED KINGDOM: JOURNALIST WINS FIGHT TO PROTECT SOURCE 7 August 2007 BURMA: SPOOF AD SPARKS NEW CENSORSHIP RULES 7 August 2007 UNITED STATES: EDITOR KILLED FOR ARTICLE CRITICISING BAKERY 7 August 2007 IRAN: IRAN CRACKS DOWN ON JOURNALISTS WITH DEATH SENTENCES, PRISON TERMS 7 August 2007 CHINA: IFEX MEMBERS PUT CHINA UNDER FIRE IN RUN UP TO OLYMPICS 7 August 2007

Sri Lanka

Web censorship targeting critical voices 10 November 2011 Death threats against newspaper editor 4 November 2011 Network chairman, general manager receive death threats 28 October 2011 Access to anti-government website blocked 20 October 2011 Newspaper chairman threatened by President Rajapaksa 3 August 2011 See all alerts: Sri Lanka


Asia and Pacific

TIBET (CHINA): PEN American Center concerned over "virtual lockdown" on freedom of expression 9 February 2012 MALDIVES: New government must guarantee safety and rights of journalists 8 February 2012 SRI LANKA: FMM voices concern over allegations in "Dinamina" newspaper article 7 February 2012 INDIA: Danish journalists refused visas 7 February 2012 CHINA: Senior newspaper staff fired for reporting inflation concerns 6 February 2012


 
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