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The United States (US) Rights report observed that harassment and intimidation of Tamil journalists covering sensitive topics from North and Eastern provinces continue.
The 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices issued by the US State Department today noted that “some journalists in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, including citizen journalists, reported harassment, threats, intimidation, and interference from members of state security services, especially when reporting on topics related to the civil war or its aftermath, including missing persons,”
Tamil journalists reported that military officers requested copies of photographs, lists of attendees at events, and names of sources for articles, the report stressed. “They also reported the military directly requested journalists refrain from reporting on sensitive events, such as Tamil war commemorations or land occupation protests, as well as from posting anything related to former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leaders, and that they feared repercussions if they did not cooperate,”
The report alleged as journalists saying authorities, sometimes in government vehicles, surveilled journalists, especially those covering protests.
“On February 21, Tamil press reported the army threatened to confiscate and destroy the telephones of three Tamil journalists, Prabhakaran Dilaksan, Sundarampillai Rajeskaran, and Chinnaiya Yogeswaran, as they attempted to cover a gathering of civilians after the military allowed them to visit temples within the “High-Security Zone” in Jaffna,”
“On June 13, a group of unidentified individuals vandalized the house of Tamil freelance journalist Thambithurai Pradeepan in Jaffna, set his motorbike on fire, and damaged his three-wheeler. The damage caused to his property was reported to be more than one million Sri Lankan rupees ($3,420). Jaffna police deployed four teams, but there was no progress in the investigation. In June, Pradeepan lodged a complaint to the HRCSL regarding the lack of progress in the investigation,”
Noting that even though the country’s Constitution provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, the government sometimes restricted this right.
“In its report on the human rights situation in the country, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) observed a persistent trend of surveillance, intimidation, and harassment of journalists and civil society actors, especially those working on enforced disappearances, land seizures, environmental issues, and with former combatants in the north and east,”
Some journalists said the Attorney General’s Department ignored requests for comments but threatened journalists with slander lawsuits when the journalists reported on large-scale corruption cases without comment from the government. Slander was not a criminal offense in the country, the report noted.
“While some online commentators reported occasionally self-censoring because of fears of harassment, threats, and intimidation, more journalists seemed concerned with whether antigovernment reporting might be rejected by publishers who feared losing advertising revenue controlled by the government,” Those who worked for smaller media organizations reported increased self-censorship due to fear they would face heightened vulnerability, as they had no institutional backing, the report added.
The full report can be accessed here
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