Controversy Over Arrest of Tamil Newspaper Editor
by Yohan Perera and Senaka de Silva

Controversy surrounded the arrest of Sudar Oli Editor N. Vidyadaran in Mount Lavinia last morning after police initially said, he was abducted by an unknown gang which had come in a white van. But later they said he had been arrested by the police and was being questioned over the recent LTTE air attack in Colombo.

There was confusion on the fate of the senior editor with even the police initially saying they did not know anything about his whereabouts and were treating the complaint as an abduction and were investigating the incident.As confusion reigned on the journalist`s fate the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) and a government minister cleared the air saying the Editor was arrested in connection with the LTTE air attack on Colombo last week.

Police Spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera, who had also earlier told the media that Vidyadaran was abducted by an unidentified group in a white van, also confirmed that he was actually arrested by the Colombo Crimes Division.
Mr. Vidyadaran was taken away while he was attending a family funeral at the Mahinda Florists in Mount Lavinia last morning.

Minister Anura Priyadarashna Yapa who commented on the matter said the editor was arrested over some phone calls he had received during last week`s air attacks. The Minister said he would be released if found innocent but would be legally charged if there was evidence pointing to his involvement.

Sudar Oli Publishers Mass Media Syndicate Ltd Managing Director E.Saravanapavan who was with Mr. Vidyadaran at the time of the arrest said he was at the funeral parlour when the six men approached the editor and dragged him into the van. They had come in a white van bearing number HX 0640, according to an eye witness.

He said three out of the six men were in civvies and others in police uniform. They had said they were taking him to the Dehiwala police station when Mr. Saravanapavan inquired as to where he was being taken.

Mr. Saravanapavan had then inquired from the Dehiwala, Wellawatte and Mount Lavinia police but none of these police stations knew about the arrest according to him.

I also tried to pull him away when they were dragging him on the ground and I am sure he must have suffered some injuries, he said.

While speaking to journalists Mr. Saravanapavan received a call on his mobile from Mr. Vidyadaran saying he was alright. However he had not said where he was.

The call followed President Mahinda Rajapaksa being informed of the incident by some Ministers with whom the Mass Media Syndicate Ltd Managing Director talked to after the incident.

Deputy Tourism Minister Faizer Mustpha who is also a member of the Ministerial Sub Committee on Media who rushed to the scene inquired from the IGP and the police Spokesman on the matter. According to the Minister they were not aware of the arrest at that time.

Mr. Saravanapavan said a group of men who identified them selves as officers from the intelligence unit had searched the Sudar Oli office at Grandpass on Wednesday and had asked for all the names and contact numbers of the journalists attached to the paper. However he had refused to provide them with these details.

The Sudar Oli Editor has been working for Udayan newspaper in Jaffna for more than 20 years and has been a native of Trincomalee. He has come to Colombo five year ago.

SLPI deplores manner of editor`s arrest

The Sri Lanka Press Institute lodged a strong protest yesterday at the manner in which Sudar Oli Editor N. Vidyatharan was arrested on Thursday morning at a funeral parlour in Mount Lavinia -- being dragged out by some men in police uniform and others in civvies and bundled into a white van and driven away.

If the editor was needed by police for purposes of an investigation, he or indeed any other citizen, should have been told why he was required, shown the Magistrate`s warrant permitting the arrest and taken away without the rough housing that was evident The methods used were, to say the least deplorable, a SLPI statement said.

We do not know whether Mr. Vidyatharan was taken away for good reason or bad and without that knowledge will not comment on that matter. But the fact that the police spokesman first told the media that he had been abducted by a group of gunmen and driven off in a white van and the story later changed to say that he was arrested by the Colombo Crimes Bureau, implies either an attempted cover-up in the first instance or that the left hand of the police does not know what the right hand is doing.

Eye witnesses at the funeral parlour, where the editor was standing by the publisher who was to later perform the obsequies at a relative`s funeral, said that three men in police uniform tried to take the editor away and when this was resisted by Vidyatharan and others present, three others in civilian dress came out and dragged Mr. Vidyatharan along the floor, bundled him into a white van and then drove him away.

SLPI strongly asserts that the manner of the arrest and the use of a white van for this purpose are most deplorable.

Arrest a violation of the rule of law- RSF

Reporters Without Borders yesterday expressed shock at the arrest of N. Vithyatharan, the editor of Sudar Oli, a Colombo-based Tamil daily that is part of the Uthayan press group. He was forcibly arrested while attending the funeral of a relative of the group`s chairman in Colombo . The media minister told the organisation that the editer was being treated well by the police.

Carried out without a warrant, this arrest was a violation of the rule of law, Reporters Without Borders said. The police must release Vithyatharan without delay. What is this respected Tamil editor accused of?

Outspoken coverage of the situation in Sri Lanka, including the fate of its Tamil population.

Three uniformed police officers and three men in plain clothes arrested Vithyatharan at the funeral of a relative of Uthayan press group chairman M. Saravanapavan. The police hit people who tried to intervene to prevent the arrest.

Until we have seen Vithyatharan safe and sound, we will continue to regard this as an abduction, Saravanapavan told Reporters Without Borders.

Media minister Laxman Yapa told Reporters Without Borders by telephone that Vithyatharan was being held by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) for the purposes of questioning. He is currently being interrogated and his relatives will be able to see him this evening, Yapa said. I can assure you that he is all right. And the press will be informed tomorrow.

Reporters Without Borders asked the minister to guarantee Vithyatharan`s safety.

The CCD is conducting an investigation under the emergency regulations into two reports published in Sudar Oli on 6 and 11 February. Vithyatharan was already summoned for questioning by CCD police officer Aura Senanayake on 13 February.

Senior members of the Uthayan press group have meanwhile received phone calls threatening them with the same fate if they do not leave the country.

Uthayan and Sudar Oli have repeatedly been the targets of violence. Six of the group`s employees have been killed since 2005 and its offices in both Jaffna and Colombo have been attacked several times. [courtesy: the daily mirror]