Front Line is deeply concerned following the arrests of six journalists and media workers: V. Jesikaran, Vadivel Valarmathi, J.S. Tissanayagam, Kithsiri Wijesinghe, Udayanan, and A.G. Gayan Lasantha Ranga between 6 and 8 March 2008.
Further Information
Posted 18/03/2008 V. Jesikaran is the owner of Outreach Multimedia (www.outreachsl.com), an online magazine established in January 2008 to highlight human rights issues in Sri Lanka. Vadivel Valarmathi is the Marketing Officer of Mahraja Broadcasting. J.S. Tissanayagam is a freelance journalist for The Sunday Times and The Daily Mirror as well as chief editor of Outreach Multimedia. Kithsiri Wijesinghe is features editor of the magazine Diyesa and freelance journalist for Outreach Multimedia. Udayanan and A.G. Gayan Lasantha Ranga are respectively video editor and video journalist of Outreach Multimedia. Outreach Multimedia is a cross-community effort with Tamil and Sinhalese staff. All are currently being detained.
V. Jesikaran was arrested on 6 March 2008 by members of the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan Police at the offices of Outreach Multimedia at 313 Jampatta Street, Colombia 13. His wife, Vadivel Valarmathi was arrested that same day by the members of the TID at her home. On 7 March 2008 at 11.30am, when J.S. Tissanayagam and Kithsiri Wijesinghe went to the TID's headquarters on Chaitya Road, Colombo, looking for information regarding the arrests of V. Jesikaran and Vadivel Valarmathi, they too were taken into custody. Udayanan was also arrested on 7 March 2008 at his home in Colombo. Finally, TID officers informed A.G. Gayan Lasantha Ranga's wife that he was to present himself at the TID offices by 3.00pm on 8 March 2008. When he did so, he too was taken into custody.
V. Jesikaran, Vadivel Valarmathi, J.S. Tissanayagam, Kithsiri Wijesinghe, Udayanan, and A.G. Gayan Lasantha Ranga were reportedly arrested in connection to their involvement with Outreach Multimedia, for “maintaining a website with the financial backing of the LTTE” (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). They have yet to be officially charged.
According to family members who have visited the detainees, they are being subject to physical and verbal abuse at the hands of TID officers and are all in a very distressed condition. The lawyers of the family members have also confirmed this. Vadivel Valarmathi is in poor health, having recently had surgery as a result of liver disease. The wives of Kithsiri Wijesinghe and A.G. Gayan Lasantha Ranga have both reportedly been told by TID officers that their husbands will be released on the condition that they neither take legal action nor reveal any information to the media.
Front Line believes that V. Jesikaran, Vadivel Valarmathi, J.S. Tissanayagam, Kithsiri Wijesinghe, Udayanan, and A.G. Gayan Lasantha Ranga have been targeted as a result of their legitimate human rights activities, in particular their work to defend the right to freedom of expression, including through their involvement in Outreach Multimedia which has been openly critical of the authorities in its coverage of human rights abuses. Their arrests and detention may be seen as part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation against the media to dissuade them from continuing with their work to highlight the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Front Line is concerned for their physical and psychological integrity while in detention and fears that they may be subject to torture and ill-treatment.