• Vavuniya journalist receives death threat

    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.

  • 24y woman missing in Jaffna
    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.
  • 157 asylum seekers transferred to Nauru in 'secret overnight operation'
    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.

  • Daily Mirror stops journalists from covering Jaffna protest
    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.
  • Army builds new Officers' Mess in Kilinochchi
    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.

  • Army warns of arrests for 'inciting violence'
    The Sri Lankan army warned on Saturday that it would take action against anyone it deemed to be "inciting violence", the Daily Mirror reported.
  • Tamil Nadu parties condemn SL military article on Jaya-Modi
    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.

  • ‘Legal Avenues to Prosecute a US Citizen for War Crimes—The Case of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’

    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.

  • Gang rape case against SL navy postponed again
    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.

  • Media minister says Tamil journalists are 'threat' to national security
    The Sri Lankan Minister for Media, deemed Tamil media and journalists were a "threat" to Sri Lankan national security and the country's "integrity", Global Tamil News reported.
  • Sri Lanka forced to apologise to India over MoD article
    The Sri Lankan government was forced to offer an  "unqualified apology" to the Indian Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, over a derogatory op-ed article that was posted on the Defense Ministry website this week.

    See full text of the MoD's article here and accompanying illustration below:
  • Journalists protest against media repression in North

    11:19 BST

    Photograph Tamil Guardian

    Journalists protested today in Jaffna, against the ongoing media repression of press in the island's North. 

    Carrying placards calling for an end on the war against the media, Tamil journalists together with locals and Tamil politicians, staged a protest by the main bus stand in Jaffna at 12pm local time.

    Photograph Tamil Guardian

    The protest was organised by the Jaffna Press Club (JPC), and endorsed by journalists from the South.

    "Even after the armed conflict in the North has ceased, as the intimidation of journalists has increased, many journalists are fleeing the country having received death threats. Meanwhile, those journalists who continue to work on the ground, continue to have death threats sent to them. In these circumstances, the media community is gripped with fear over the dangers that journalism is going to face in coming days," said the JPC said in a statement published shortly after the protest.

  • UNP seeks to 'save' Buddha Sasana from Rajapaksa regime
    The leader of the United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka’s opposition, Wednesday, urged the abolition of the executive presidency and proposed that the Sri Lankan government look to setup up a committee to address and monitor ‘threats’ faced by the Buddha Sasana, reports DailyMirror.lk.

    “We have already suggested the setting up of a parliamentary committee to monitor the development of various important sectors and it would be possible to set up such a monitoring system to look into the threats faced by the Buddha Sasana,” said Ranil Wickremesinghe during a public consultation on the need to protecting the Buddhist Sasana.


  • Sri Lanka accuses US of hampering reconciliation efforts
    The Sri Lankan government said the actions of the United States could seriously hamper reconciliation efforts, rejecting the US embassy statement made on July 28, expressing concern over the lack of press freedom.

    "Given the sensitivities involved when the country is going through a sensitive process of national reconciliation, restrictively targeting a specific group of people from a particular community or region can lead to a perpetuation of mistrust among communities, seriously hampering reconciliation efforts," Sri Lanka's External Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Thursday, Colombo Page reported. 

  • Business man slashed with machete in Chunnakam
    A Tamil business man was attacked in Chunnakam town on Tuesday evening, suffering severe lacerations, the Uthayan reported.
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