On 10 August 2022, intelligence officers visited human rights defender Sasikaran Punniyamoorthy’s residence in Batticalao and asked information about his whereabouts to his wife. In May 2022, Sasikaran Punniyamoorthy was targeted and harassed online. Photos of his family members, including his children, were posted on Facebook with the aim to tarnish his image and credibility as a journalist. As a response, the human rights defender wrote to the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Batticaloa requesting them to take adequate action against the online harassment and attacks.

Sasikaran Punniyamoorthy is a human rights defender and a freelance regional journalist based in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. He is the treasurer of the Batti Press Club and worked as the Batticalao district coordinator for the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO), a national organisation working for the welfare of fisher folks. He has been actively reporting on social, political and environmental injustices in the Eastern province. He has been supporting issues concerning human rights, environmental rights and has written several news articles to Tamil news papers and websites. Due to his legitimate human rights activism and journalism, he has been targeted by the Batticaloa police, summoned for interrogation, and received several court orders restricting his right to protest.

On 26 October 2021, the Batticaloa police visited Sasikaran’s house to question him about his human rights activities. On 27 September 2021, a State Minister shouted at Sasikaran Punniyamoorthy when he raised a question related to an ex-minister who was allegedly involved in mistreating Tamil prisoners during a press conference in Batticaloa. On 14 September 2021, he was interrogated on his connection to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil, Eelam, as well as diaspora news agencies, by officers at the Special Crime Branch in Batticaloa for more than an hour. During the interrogation he was asked about his family background, occupation and financial sources.

In January 2020, several leaflets with death threats to seven Tamil journalists located in the Batticaloa district, including Sasikaran Punniyamoorthy, were placed at the office of the Batticaloa Press Club. The journalists suspect that these threatening leaflets have been put underneath the door. Translation of the text printed on the leaflets read as “Be aware! Be aware!! These are the Reporters who received money from the Tigers abroad and working against the government. Soon give them death sentence!”. The photo on the leaflets were from an event that journalists in Batticaloa organised on 9 January 2020 to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the killing of Colombo-based journalist and editor Lasantha Wickramathunga.

Sri Lanka has a history of targeting and attacks of peaceful human rights defenders and journalists for their human rights work and advocacy. Those working in war affected areas in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of the country and from religious and/or ethnic minorities are especially vulnerable to threats, intimidation and legal reprisals. Front Line Defenders has repeatedly called for an end to reprisals and for the protection of human rights defenders and journalists in Sri Lanka.