Aiyathurai Nadesan

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A Nadesan
A Nadesan

Aiyathurai Nadesan, a prominent and veteran minority Sri Lankan Tamil journalist[1] was shot dead on May 31, 2004 on his way to work in eastern Sri Lankan town of Batticaloa by gunmen belonging to an armed paramilitary group widely believed to be so called Karuna Group.[2]

Human Rights in Sri Lanka

Assasinations of Journalists
Aiyathurai Nadesan-Balanadarajah Iyer-K.S.Raja-Mylvaganam Nimalrajan-Richard De Soyza-Thevis Guruge-Taraki Sivaram-Relangi Selvarajah-Nadarajah Atputharajah-I.Shanmugalingam-Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan–Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah

Contents

[edit] Biography

Mr. Nadesan, the father of four children and aged 50 at the time of his death, hailed from Nelliyadi, a town in North Jaffna District in Sri Lanka. He wrote under the pen name Nellai Nadesan.[3]

Large crowds attended Nadesan's funeral on 3 June 2004 in his hometown. The normal life of Nelliyady, came to a standstill. Shops were closed. The hearse was taken to the Nelliyady Madhya Maha Vidiyalayam thursday morning from his residence where funeral orations were delivered by TNA parliamentarians, LTTE activists and Sunanda Deshapriya of the Free Media Movement. A protest demonstration was held in Colombo on 9 June 2004, condemning the Nadesan’s killing and a one day shut down was observed in the town of Trincomalee.[4]

[edit] Pictures

Pictures of his funeral

[edit] Career

He was the Vice-President of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance and a recipient of the Best Journalist of 2000 Prize awarded by the Sri Lanka Editors’ Guild. He was the Batticaloa based columnist for Virakesari, the country’s leading Tamil language newspaper, for more than twenty years.[5]

He was also the local correspondent for Shakthi TV News and the London based International Broadcasting Corporation.

As prominent member of the local press, Nadesan received the prize for the best Tamil journalist in 2000.[6]

[edit] Past incidents of intimidation

Allegations of State terrorism in Sri Lanka

Civilian Massacres
Akkaraipattu-Allaipiddy-Black July-Batticaloa 1990-Chencholai orphanage-Eastern University-Mannar 1984-Mannar 2006-Mylanthanai-Jaffna hospital- Jaffna lagoon-Jaffna library-Valvettiturai 1989-Iruthayapuram-Kokkadicholai-Kumarapuram-Kumudini boat-Nachikuda-Prison massacres-Tampalakamam - Trincomalee 2006-Nagerkovil school-Navaly church-Naguleswaram temple-Nelliady-Vaharai
Rapes and Murders

Krishanti Kumaraswamy-Ilayathambi Tharsini-Saradambal Sarma-Mary Madeleine Martin-Arumaithurai Tharmaletchumi
Assassinations
Taraki Sivaram-Fr.Chandra Fernando-Aiyathurai Nadesan-K.S.Raja-Mylvaganam Nimalrajan-Richard De Soyza-Kumar Ponnambalam-Joseph Pararajasingham-Rev.Jeyarajasingham-N. Raviraj
Forced Disappearances
Fr.Mary Bastian-Fr.Nihal Jim Brown
  • On 3 April 2000 a bomb exploded at his home in Batticaloa. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression reported to the UN Commission on Human Rights in February 2002:
  • The report said "Those responsible for the incident were linked to pro-Government Tamil paramilitaries. Mr. Nadesan had received a telephone death threat after his paper ran an article in March 2000 about atrocities committed by a member of the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam or PLOTE, an armed paramilitary group that supports the Government’s battle against LTTE separatists. Mr. Nadesan had not written the article, although he had regularly written about the activities of PLOTE and other pro-Government Tamil groups in Batticaloa." [7]
  • In July 2001 the Commanding Officer of the 23-3 Battalion in Batticaloa, Col. Manawaduge warned and threatened Mr. Nadesan. He was summoned to the Commanding Officer's office and told that he writes only anti-government and anti-military news and articles and warned that if he continues in this fashion, action would be taken against him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. This incident was the subject of an intervention by the Sri Lanka Free Media movement on 24 July 2001. This incident was also reported on by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression in February 2002.[8]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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