CPJ calls for release of detained Tamil doctors

Following the recent arrest and continued detention of three Tamil doctors–Thangamuttu Sathiyamorthi, Thurairaja Varatharajan and V. Sunmugarajah –by the Sri Lankan military after they supplied local and international news media with causality figures in Vanni during the last stages of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, we issued this statement…

“This is a chilling example of the intentions of the Sri Lanka government as it pursues its all out military solution in dealing with the LTTE,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “CPJ welcomes the reported end of military hostilities in Sri Lanka, but we once again appeal to the Rajapaksa government to reverse its policies of silencing the media and immediately release the detained Tamil doctors.”