Sri Lanka: Government censors Tamilnet by blocking access to website



Reporters Without Borders / Reporters sans frontières 
Press Release 
20.06.07 

Reporters Without Borders today condemned government censorship of the 
English-language news website Tamilnet. Sri Lanka's Internet Service 
Providers have been blocking access to the website on the government's 
orders since 15 June. 

"Tamilnet is a source of news and information that is known throughout the 
world and for the past 10 years its coverage of Sri Lanka's civil war has 
proved essential," the press freedom organisation said. "The government 
must put a stop to this censorship and restore access to the site at 
once." 

The blockage came just days after the 10th anniversary of Tamilnet's 
creation on 7 June, and coincided with the arrival of a delegation of 
international press freedom organisations, including Reporters Without 
Borders, to look into the sharp decline in media freedom in Sri Lanka. 

Created in London by members of the Tamil expatriate community, Tamilnet 
devotes much its efforts to covering the civil war between the Liberation 
Tiger of Tamil Eelam separatists (LTTE) and paramilitaries. The site has 
often been accused of supporting Tamil nationalists. Its editor, Sivaram 
Dharmaratnam, was murdered on 28 April 2005.






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