Image: Journalist Nadarajah Kugarajah was assaulted by acting Officer-in-Charge of Kopay police station.(@garikaalan)
Media Release/ 2019 Feb 19.
The Free Media Movement, while strongly condemning the police attack on journalist Nadarajah Kugarajah, urges all relevant authorities to immediately investigate the incident and to mete out justice.
Nadarajah Kugarajah, a journalist from Tamil television channel ‘Dan TV’ has been admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital after being attacked and wounded by the police.
This had taken place at around 2.30 pm on February 19 at Kokuvil East, while Kugarajah was filming an incident for his reportage. He had been threatened not to film the incident and attacked by the Acting Officer-in-Charge of Kopay police station, Kugarajah stated.
In a situation where journalists in the North and South had not got justice for rights violations, Free Media Movement views such repressive incident as a major obstacle to journalists’ freedom of speech and freedom of expression and condemns such threats.
Therefore, the Free Media Movement urges all parties concerned to take immediate action to investigate and to mete out justice to the affected journalist.
C.Dodawatte
Convener
Journalist attacked by police in Jaffna, Sri Lanka – IFJ
Sri Lankan journalist Nadarajah Kugarajah was attacked by police in Jaffna on February 20, 2019. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the Free Media Movement (FMM) is strongly criticizing the attack and calling for an immediate investigation by the police.
Nadarajah Kugarajah a journalist with the Tamil television station Dan TV was attacked on February 19 as he filmed a piece for his reporting in Kokuvil East in Jaffna. As he filmed, he was threatened to stop filming by the Acting Officer-in-Charge of Kopay police station. When he did not comply, he was attack. Kugarajah was taken to Jaffna Teaching Hospital to be treated for his injuries.
FMM said that the situation for journalists in the North and South is concerning and are still waiting on justice for media violations that occurred years earlier. FMM said: “We view such repressive incidents as a major obstacle to journalists’ freedom of speech and freedom of expression and condemns such threats. Therefore, the Free Media Movement urges all parties concerned to take immediate action to investigate and to mete out justice to the affected journalist.”
The IFJ said: “We call for an immediate and thorough investigation into the attack on Nadarajah Kugarajah. Journalists and the media cannot be attacked for simply doing their job, and incidents such as these only work to foster a climate of fear and intimidation for the media.”