Media News - Thursday, May 29, 2008

Journalist hacked to death in Sri Lanka: rights group

A Sri Lankan journalist working in the war-torn northern region and his friend have been hacked to death, a media rights group said Thursday. P. Devakumar, 36, a correspondent for the privately-run Sirasa television, was murdered on Wednesday, the influential Free Media Movement (FMM) said. Devakumar is the ninth media worker to have been killed in Jaffna since 2006, the FMM said. Three more journalists have also been abducted in the town over the last two years. Jaffna, the main town on the embattled northern peninsula of the same name, has been under military control for over a decade. Media rights watchdogs describe Sri Lanka as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists after Iraq. At least 10 Sri Lankan media workers have been killed over the past two years, while others have been abducted, tortured or illegally detained, according to Amnesty International. Most are Tamil journalists working in the ethnic Tamil majority areas of the north and east. Sinhalese journalists working in the south also face intimidation, particularly when reporting cases of graft, Amnesty said. The FMM said none of the disappearances, abductions or murders of media workers have been probed and the perpetrators brought to justice. (AFP)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

• Home |
• Seminars  |
• Events |
• Media Landscape |
• Newsroom|
• Media News|
• Resources

Terms of service and Privacy policy.

Copyright © 1992-2007 European Journalism Centre. All rights reserved.

Valid XHTML and CSS.

European Journalism Centre

Sonneville-lunet 10
6221KT Maastricht
The Netherlands

Tel. : +31 43 325 40 30
Fax : +32 2 400 42 20

E-mail: info[at]ejc.net