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CPJ urges Batticaloa Police to stop alleged harassment of journalist

26 Aug 2021

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Batticaloa Police to stop the alleged harassment of journalist Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and let him work without interference. “On August 23, officers from the Batticaloa police superintendent’s Special Crime Branch interrogated Sasikaran, a freelance Tamil journalist who is also the treasurer of the Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Union, at a police station, according to news reports and the journalist, who communicated with CPJ by messaging app,” the CPJ stated. The officers accused Sasikaran of organizing a ceremony in January that paid tribute to Indian fishermen who died at sea in 2020, which he said he merely covered as a journalist, he told CPJ. Authorities released him after about two hours, he said. CPJ emailed U.P.A.D.K.P. Karunanayake, the deputy inspector-general of the Batticaloa district police, for comment and to determine if Sasikaran had been formally charged with a crime, but did not receive any reply. “It’s time for Sri Lanka’s police to call off their repeated harassing interrogations of journalist Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and allow him to go about his work without interference,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Police should not be using intimidation tactics to prevent journalists from covering protests by Sri Lanka’s Tamil community, or any others.” Police have repeatedly interrogated Sasikaran over his alleged planning of that January event, as well as a February 3 to 7 protest calling on the government to resolve issues facing Tamils, as CPJ has documented. In July, officers with the Terrorism Investigation Division also interrogated Selvakumar Nilanthan, a freelance Tamil journalist and secretary of the Batticoloa District Tamil Journalists Association, as CPJ documented at the time. The CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal. CPJ is made up of about 40 experts around the world, with headquarters in New York City. When press freedom violations occur, CPJ mobilizes a network of correspondents who report and take action on behalf of those targeted.

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