Keith Noyahr, Associate Editor and Defence Correspondent of The Nation weekly newspaper is abducted from his home and seriously injured.
Sri Lankan journalists and civil society protest against the incident and call for an immediate investigation.
Sources
Defence Reporter Abducted and Severely Beaten In Sri Lanka, International Federation of Journalists, 23 May 2008; Noyahr’s nightmare, Daily Mirror, 24 May 2008; Condemnation from all quarters, Sunday Times, 25 May 2008.
Quotations
“The Free Media Movement expresses shock and outrage that Keith Noyahr, Deputy Editor and Defence Analyst of the English weekly The Nation was abducted late evening yesterday returned home early this morning, after enduring severe physical harm. This is not just a violation of the freedom of expression and another significant blow to media freedom. It proves, as if more proof was needed, that Sri Lanka is very far from a country that protects fundamental rights and is governed by the rule of law,” Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka.
“We believe that the reason for this attack is Noyahr’s independent writing and analysis of the country’s civil war,” Poddala Jayantha, secretary of Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association.
“The way he was beaten is unprecedented. If the government can’t [bring the perpetrators to justice] we hold the government responsible for this abduction and attack,” Sunanda Deshapriya of the Free Media Movement.
Extracts from ‘Victory day not far off’, an interview with Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, 23 July 2008
Q: But it is reported that the army is behind the attack on Keith Noyahr of The Nation newspaper who had written a military story criticising the military few weeks before the attack. What do you have to say about this allegation?
A: How many other journalists write political or military columns? Why should the army attack only on Keith Noyahr. I have never seen anywhere that Keith Noyahr had said that the army had attacked him. Some people are trying to put us against him. He has never accused that the army had assaulted him. And I think perhaps he is guilty that he has done something wrong by writing against the military.
Q: Is he tight-lipped because he is supposed to be in fear of reprisals?
A: If he has not done anything wrong, he does not have to live in fear. If he has done some damage to our organisation or to a person, especially when he has done something which he is not suppose to do, then it is natural he must be living in fear. If they think that they have done something of that nature the best thing for them is to correct themselves and rectify the mistake.
Q: What is the role you expect the media to play during the time of war?
A: War or no war, the media should write in the interest of the country and not to please their favourites. The media is supposed to play a neutral role to educate people. They are not supposed to create situations where they groom people and make heroes out of them. I do not think that certain media in this country is doing their duty with a sense of responsibility. Media freedom is there for you to do the right thing and to be fair by everybody. Nobody has given freedom for anybody to drive their own agendas. We know very well about those media people who take bribes, write and voice their opinion for some personal gains. That Keith Noyahr who was assaulted was returning from a restaurant with his friends and they were drunk. We do not know that somebody in the restaurant had got annoyed with them, followed him and assaulted.
Related events
29 April 2005
12 August 2005
24 January 2006
2 July 2006
9 January 2007
External links
An army is not its commander’s private fiefdom, The Nation, 11 May 2008; Sri Lanka’s defence ministry lashes out at war reporting, AFP, 5 June 2008
