Friday, 29 November 2013 00:01
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Strasbourg: France-based press freedom defender Reporters Without Borders has awarded this year’s Press Freedom Prize to Sri Lankan Tamil-language daily Uthayan and to the imprisoned Uzbek journalist Muhammad Bekjanov.
Reporters Without Borders presented the award to the Uthayan editor Vallipuram Kaanamylnaathan and owner Eswarapatham Saravanapavan during a ceremony on Wednesday in Strasbourg’s city hall.
Presenting the award to Uthayan, the organisation described the Tamil daily newspaper based in Jaffna as the only newspaper to have kept publishing during the 26 years of war between the Tamil Tiger terrorists and Sri Lankan forces.
“Despite operating in a country that is ranked 162nd in the press freedom index, Uthayan has never balked at covering stories that are controversial in a still fragmented society. As a result, it has been the target of repeated violence, leading to the departure of many of its employees over the years. Two were killed in May 2006 and its editor, Gnagnasundaram Kuhanathan, was beaten unconscious in Jaffna in 2011,” the Reporters Without Borders said.
“The war in Sri Lanka is not yet over for Uthayan. If this newspaper were to succumb to the constant harassment to which it is exposed, the abuses by the security forces against the population in the north would continue with complete impunity, without being brought to the attention of Sri Lankans and the international community. The courage and persistence of Uthayan’s staff in reporting what happens in this embattled country demands our respect and our full solidarity,” Reporters Without Borders Director-General Christophe Deloire said.
