O 261308Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9464
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USMISSION GENEVA 
DIA WASHINGTON DC
NATIONAL SECURITY OUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000218 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS, SCA/PPD AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PTER PREL CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: TAMIL NEWSPAPER EDITOR'S "WHITE VAN" ARREST 
 
Ref: A) Colombo 146, B) Colombo 81, C) Colombo 32, D) 08 Colombo 507 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Eyewitnesses reported that several men, some in 
plain clothes and some in police uniforms took Tamil newspaper 
editor M. Vidyatharan at gunpoint at about 9:45 am local time on 
February 26 and bundled him into a white van.  Vidyatharan was taken 
as he came out of a funeral parlor in the Colombo suburb of Mount 
Lavinia.  Upon learning of the apparent abduction, Charge phoned the 
head of the Presidential Secretariat (NSC-equivalent) Lalith 
Weeratunga to express concern about Vidyatharan's safety.  A few 
hours later, the Director General of the Media Centre for National 
Security said that Vidyatharan had not been abducted but arrested in 
connection with the recent LTTE air attack on Colombo.  Vidyatharan 
is now undergoing questioning by police.  Vidyatharan is the editor 
of Sudar Oli, a Tamil-language weekly newspaper which often reports 
on controversial issues.  Earlier this week he wrote an article on 
the situation in the Sri Lanka's north which gave details of IDPs 
injured in aerial bombings and included disturbing pictures of 
children injured and killed in the bombing.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Mr. M. Vidyatharan, editor of Tamil-language weekly newspaper 
Sudar Oli, was the apparent victim of an abduction this morning at 
9.45 a.m. Local reports said that Vidyatharan was taken at gunpoint 
by several men from a funeral parlor in the southern Colombo suburb 
of Mount Lavinia, who forced him into a white van.  Some of the men 
who took the editor were in plain clothes, some in police uniforms. 
A Mount Lavinia Police Inspector told RSO FSN that Vidyatharan was 
taken as he stepped out of the parlor to take a telephone call on 
his mobile.  The Inspector said that police officers may have 
arrested Vidyatharan but added his jurisdiction had not been 
informed in advance of the operation by outside officers.  Post 
received contradictory reports of how many uniformed and plain 
clothes men were involved in the abduction; however, all reports 
agree on the license plate number of the van. The van left the 
funeral parlor with Vidyatharan heading towards the Air Force base 
at Ratmalana and may have been escorted by police, as a police van 
was reported to be nearby. 
 
Charge and Other Diplomatic Missions 
Urge GSL to Ensure Vidyatharan's Safety 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Sudar Oli publisher V. Saravanapavan called Pol Chief at 
about 10:05 to report the incident and request Embassy's 
intervention.  Charge immediately phoned the head of the 
Presidential Secretariat (NSC-equivalent) Lalith Weeratunga. 
Weeratunga told Charge that he was already aware of the case.  He 
said he had brought the matter to the attention of the President, 
who had called Inspector General of Police Wickramaratna and 
instructed him to take every measure to ensure the newspaper 
editor's safety.  Other diplomatic missions and media advocacy 
groups also contacted the GSL officials, including the Norwegian and 
Canadian missions who phoned Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha 
Kohona. 
 
Abducted or Arrested? 
--------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) A few hours after the apparent abduction, the Media 
Minister Anura Yapa announced that Vidyatharan had not been abducted 
but arrested and was being questioned.  The Director General of the 
Media Centre for National Security said that Vidyatharan had been 
arrested in connection with the recent LTTE air attack on Colombo. 
Sudar Oli publisher V. Saravanapavan, who was present during the 
incident, insisted that it was not a normal arrest, but rather a 
forced abduction.  Foreign Secretary Kohona told the Norwegian DCM 
and Canadian High Commissioner told that Vidyatharan had been 
arrested because of telephone calls made on the night of the attacks 
on Colombo, including a purported call Vidyatharan received from 
"Sea Tiger" Chief Soosai that night.  Inspector General of Police 
Jayantha Wickramaratna, however, related a significantly different 
version, telling Charge that Vidyatharan had indeed been abducted by 
unknown people and taken by force.  He said a police team found 
Vidyatharan "lying in an isolated place" in a slum area of Colombo. 
According to the IGP, Vidyatharan is merely being questioned and has 
not been arrested. 
 
Vanni Coverage Likely Cause 
of Arrest/Abduction 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Sudar Oli's recent coverage of the humanitarian crisis in 
northern Sri Lanka highlighted growing civilian casualties in the 
Vanni.  In the February 22-28 edition, Vidyatharan wrote a full page 
article on the situation in the Vanni entitled "IDPs pain - 
Thoppigala and Mullaitivu."  The article was about the destruction 
caused by aerial bombing in the Vanni and included disturbing 
photographs of children injured and killed in the bombing.  Among 
the photos was one showing three dead children lying in a row, one 
of a child who lost their ears in the bombing and one who had lost 
their eyes.  Two weeks ago, the Criminal Investigative Division 
(CID) took Vidyatharan in for questioning after Sudar Oli published 
a statement by Tamil National Alliance MP Selvan Adaikalanathan that 
alleged thousands of civilian casualties.  In a January 15 interview 
on Sri Lankan television, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa 
referred to Sudar Oli as an "LTTE publication." 
 
¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: As in the Keith Noyahr case (ref D), the early 
intervention of civil society and diplomatic missions likely 
prevented Vidyatharan's "white van" incident from turning into an 
abduction.  The government's multiple and conflicting explanations 
of the incident open uncomfortable questions about its role in 
similar incidents that have not later developed into legal arrests. 
Post will continue to monitor developments in the case and press the 
government to conduct its investigation according to Sri Lankan law. 
 The incident can only add to the growing pressure on journalists to 
avoid any reporting on the fighting in the north that strays from 
the GSL's public position of "zero civilian casualties." 
 
MOORE