Photographer of Tamil daily held

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2000, 13:41 GMT]
A photographer working for a Tamil daily in Colombo was arrested on suspicion by Police Friday near the scene of the suicide bomb attack near downtown Colombo. His colleagues in the paper, Thinakkural, said that the photographer, S. Ramdas, had gone to a photo shop near Deans Road at the time of the blast. He had run to the scene upon hearing the explosion and taken some photos of the carnage. They said he was arrested when he had to rush back to the shop to buy new film.

The Police who saw him running back after taking photos had arrested him on suspicion that he was linked to the suicide bomber. Sources at Thinakkural, however, said that Ramdas was arrested because a person at the scene of the blast had allegedly pointed out Ramdas to the Police.

They said that the photographer has been detained by the Police and that the investigators had come to the office of the paper to make inquiries about him.

Meanwhile, Police sources claimed that Ramdas was arrested because he did not have his official accreditation card issued by the government's department of information when the Police wanted to ascertain his bona fides.

Thinakkural sources, however, said that there have been instances where Tamil journalists have been held on suspicion despite showing their media accreditation cards.