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Disappearance of Vadivel Nimalarajah

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Vadivel Nimalarajah
OccupationJournalist
EmployerUthayan Newspaper
Known forJournalist

Vadivel Nimalarajah is a minority Sri Lankan Tamil proof reader for the newspaper Uthayan in Jaffna. He has been missing after being abducted on November 17, 2007 after working overnight in the Uthayan newspaper office. Uthayan has been specifically targeted for its independent reporting by the Sri Lankan military and the paramilitary group EPDP.[1][2][3][4]International Federation of Journalists lists his case in its campaign "Without a Trace" amongst the top 10 cases of enforced disappearances of media workers which still remains untraced in Asia Pacific.[5][6]

Background

Nimalarajah lived in Kachcheari-Nalloor road in Jaffna which is about 2 kilometers from the Uthayan office.He was 31 years old and unmarried. [7][8][9] This incident is part of acts of violence and intimidation against journalists and human rights activists taking place in areas controlled by the Sri Lankan government.[10] Vadivel Nimalarajah was abducted by a paramilitary allied with the Sri Lankan Army earlier two journalists of Uthayan were killed after a cartoon mocking Douglas Devananda.[11][12] His disappearance is part of a series of disappearances of Tamils in Jaffna which is under Army control.[13][14][15]

Incident and reaction

Vadivel Nimalarajah disappeared on November 17, 2007 after working overnight in the Uthayan newspaper office in what is termed as an enforced disappearance by human rights groups.[16]A journalist working for Agence France-Presse describing the situation in Jaffna as terrible said

I have never seen anything like it. Even in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, foreign journalists had more freedom of movement".

[17]

References

  1. ^ "Tamil newspaper's proof reader missing in Jaffna". Reporters Without Borders. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Disappeared journalists: Lanka 'among worst'". BBC. 30 August 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  3. ^ Amnesty:Call for the protection of Sri Lankan media workers
  4. ^ "COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT SRI LANKA" (PDF). Home Office UK Border Agency. 11 June 2008. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  5. ^ "FJ Asia-Pacific launches 'Without A Trace' campaign for missing journalists". Journalism in Pakistan. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  6. ^ "Enforced journalist disappearances: IFJ counts the missing days". International Federation of Journalists. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Uthayan staffer, family man feared abducted in Jaffna". Tamilnet. 19 November 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  8. ^ "Media under fire: Press freedom lockdown in Sri Lanka" (PDF). International Media Support. p. 15. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Media workers killed/disappeared in 2007". JDS. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  10. ^ Sri Lanka: Incommunicado detention/ fear of torture or ill-treatment/ detention without charge\n | Amnesty International
  11. ^ Media Terror in Sri Lanka's Jaffna
  12. ^ HRW Sri Lanka: ‘Disappearances’ by Security Forces a National Crisis
  13. ^ BBC White van 'terrorizes' Jaffna
  14. ^ Alice LoCicero; Samuel J. Sinclair (2008). Creating Young Martyrs: Conditions that Make Dying in a Terrorist Attack Seem Like a Good Idea. ABC-CLIO. pp. 80–. ISBN 978-0-275-99690-1. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  15. ^ "THE ROAD TO RESILIENCE PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTH ASIA 2015-16" (PDF). UNESCO. p. 17. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  16. ^ Human Rights Watch Recurring Nightmare
  17. ^ RSF Sri Lanka - Annual report 2008
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