Prominent Mullaitivu journalist's equipment burgled

The home of a well-known Tamil journalist from Mullaitivu was broken into and burgled on Tuesday, with the journalist’s work equipment including a laptop and two cameras among the items stolen.

Journalist Kumanan, who reports regularly on issues of militarisation and Sinhalisation in Mullaitivu, as well as on the campaigns of families of the disappeared, said he believed the break-in was a deliberate attempt to silence his work.

Kumanan has regularly faced targeted harassment while carrying out his work, including recently when he was intimidated by Buddhist monks while reporting on the opening of an illegally constructed Buddha statue.