SLA, Police search offices of Jaffna Tamil Daily

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 June 2007, 10:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Police, entered the premises of Jaffna popular daily, Yarl Thinakkural Monday morning and conducted a thorough search of the premises, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Locked cabinets were broken open and all documents were examined, staffers said.

Administrative officials at the Yarl Thinakkural office told the media that this is the third time within the last six months that the paper's offices have been searched by the security forces.

The offices were searched several times in 2006 also, the officials said.

Meanwhile, two highlevel officiers of the Reporters sans frontières (RSF) and Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) are scheduled to visit Jaffna on the 20th and 21st to meet with journalists and civil society to discuss issues related to media freedom.

Civil society members expressed surprise at the timing of the search in view of the pending visit by international watchdogs on media freedom.