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JDS

@jdslanka.bsky.social

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan partner of Reporters sans frontières.| www.jdslanka.org

25 Followers  |  25 Following  |  45 Posts  |  Joined: 21.01.2025  |  1.8783

Latest posts by jdslanka.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Dr. Kāsipillai Manoharan (84), a persistent fighter who campaigned to get justice for his son Ragihar Manoharan (20) executed with 4 Tamil students in Trincomalee on 02.01.2006 by Sri Lanka's police Special Task Force, passed away in exile on Sunday(21), without seeing justice.
RIP🪔

21.09.2025 18:27 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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A joint report by International Truth & Justice Project & @redress.org, "The Killing of Sri Lankan Journalists:the case of Nimalarajan Mylvaganam" was released in Jaffna in an event organised by Jaffna Press Club on Sunday(7) to mark the 25th anniversary of the killing of BBC reporter M.Nimalarajan.

07.09.2025 17:20 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Thursday (21) marks the 12th day since excavations recommenced at the Colombo port mass burial site where over 85 bodies, haphazardly buried without clothes, were unearthed. The site was first found in July 2023 during construction work for the Port City Expressway entrance.

21.08.2025 08:49 — 👍 0    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

UPDATE: After being interrogated for over 7 hours about his journalistic work by the police counter- terrorism officers, journalist K.Kumanan left Alampil CTID station with his lawyer Nadarajar Kandeepan, a short while ago.

17.08.2025 16:54 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Tamil journalist Kanapathipillai Kumanan is seen walking into Alampil sub-station of Counter Terrorism & Investigation Division with his lawyer Nadarajar Kandeepan, on Sunday morning (17), after he was summoned under PTA for an "inquiry" abt his journalistic work in Tamil areas.

17.08.2025 16:53 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1
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#SriLanka: Kanapathipillai Kumanan, who covered the recent exhumations of mass graves, has been summoned on 17 August. by the anti-terrorism division for an unspecified "investigation.” RSF denounces this new act of intimidation and demands an end to police harassment of this Tamil photojournalist.

13.08.2025 15:29 — 👍 6    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 0
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International media rights group, Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Sri Lankan authorities to "immediately stop harassing photojournalist Kanapathipillai Kumanan", who has been summoned by Counter Terrorism & Investigation Division (CTID).
cpj.org/2025/08/sri-...

12.08.2025 13:32 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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On 27.10.89 M.S.Wijeratna of Divulapitiya, a father of 4,was abducted by a police team led by OIC Nimal Fernando. And thus began his brother Ratnasiri's long search for justice for victims of Walpita mass grave.
Today, as the sun set over Divulapitiya, Ratnasiri was laid to rest.

12.08.2025 12:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Mihindukulasuriyage Ratnasiri, who led the families of the disappeared in the mid 90s braving threats and intimidation, demanding justice for the victims of Divulapitiya mass grave in western Sri Lanka, passed away on Sunday (10) morning without seeing justice.
Rest in power!🪔

12.08.2025 12:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Chemmani mass grave body count rises to 147 as 6 more bodies - including skeletal remains of infants - unearthed on Wednesday (6), marking the end of the second phase of an excavation process that continued for 41 days. #SriLanka #MassGrave| 📸 Sakuna M. Gamage

07.08.2025 06:46 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Asian Football Confederation, one of the six continental confederations operating under #FIFA, has imposed US $2000 fine on #SriLankan midfielder Mohamed Thilham for showing solidarity with #Palestine following a win against Chinese Taipei in a qualifying match played on June 10.

07.08.2025 06:45 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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#SriLanka's Counter Terrorism & Investigation Division (CTID)has summoned leading #Tamil journalist & rights defender, K. Kumanan, informing him to appear at CTID Sub-station in #Alampil, #Mullaithivu on August 17th for an 'inquiry'. @pressefreiheit.bsky.social @pressfreedom.bsky.social @rsf.org

07.08.2025 06:44 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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On Tuesday (5), 100s of relatives of the disappeared Tamils visited the 2 forensic excavation sites in Chemmani, Jaffna where skeletal remains of at least 141 victims have been unearthed from a mass grave during an exhumation process ongoing for 40 days. | 📸 © Sakuna M. Gamage

05.08.2025 18:19 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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As the 18th day of the ongoing excavations at Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna concluded for Wednesday (23), the ever staggering body count stood at 85 with five more human remains unearthed during the day.

23.07.2025 19:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

After inspecting the de-mining site in Sampur where human remains were found 3 days ago, Magistrate of Muttur Ms H.M.T.Fowsan, today (23) instructed the judicial medical officer, Dept. of Archaeology & officials of Mine Advisory Group to submit their observations in 2 separate reports by July 30.

23.07.2025 11:55 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Workers of Mine Action Group have uncovered human skeletal remains in a de-mining site at Children's Park in the eastern town of Sampur on Sunday (20), lying in close proximity to a location where at least 57 civilians were shot, hacked & burnt to death by Sri Lankan armed forces on 7 July 1990.

21.07.2025 06:59 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1
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As the second phase of the excavations at Chemmani Siththupaththi mass grave in Jaffna came to an end on Wednesday (9), the forensic team led by chief archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadeva & consultant JMO Dr. S. Pranavan has unearthed 63 human skeletal remains from the site.

10.07.2025 07:07 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

On 24 Oct. 2024, Sri Lanka's Public Security Minister @HMVijithaHerath told media that '3 Sri Lankans were arrested following intel. reports indicating security threats to Israeli nationals'.
21 y/o student Shuhail was among them who still remain behind bars.
His crime was to share these 2 imojis!

09.07.2025 14:33 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

3. He was held under draconian PTA for sharing a post on Instagram that condemned ongoing 1sr@eli atrocities against Palestinians while his arbitrary arrest & detention prevented his graduation in January.

After 9 months since his arrest, Shuhail still remains in custody!

07.07.2025 20:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

2. On Oct. 24, Mt. Lavinea Magistrate ordered his release after his father, Mr. M. Rifai, produced his ID to the court. The family returned to their hometown on the same evening, only to be visited again by a police team from Dehiwala, who re-arrested the youth & whisked him away to Colombo.

07.07.2025 20:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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1. On 23 Oct. 2024, Mohamed Shuhail Mohamed Rifai (21), a resident of Mawanella, who was following an Airline Cabin Crew course in Colombo was arrested by officers attached to Dehiwala police for not having a national ID in his possession, while he's looking for a room to rent.

07.07.2025 20:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 1
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As the 7th day of exhumation work at Chemmani mass grave in Jaffna concluded on Wednesday (2), lead forensic archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadewa instructed his team to expand the boundaries of the demarcated area to include adjacent land-space suspected to be an extension of the burial site.

02.07.2025 20:59 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Five more bodies, including of a child were unearthed on Tuesday (01), bringing the total to 38, during the ongoing excavation in Chemmani mass grave site in the northern peninsula of Jaffna.

01.07.2025 15:54 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Sri Lankan Forensic Archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadeva inspects some toys found in a school bag that was discovered from a mass grave site in Chemmani, Jaffna where at least 38 bodies including several children were unearthed as the excavation reached the 6th day of the 2nd phase.

01.07.2025 15:53 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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In a show of strong solidarity with the Palestinian nation, hundreds of trade unionists & social activists took to the streets in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Monday (30) and marched to the US embassy, condemning US -Isr@el genocidal alliance while calling for an end to carnage in Gaza.

30.06.2025 12:05 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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As of Saturday (7), a total of 19 human skeletal remains have been unearthed at the recently found mass burial site in Chemmani- Siththuppaththi cemetery, in Jaffna while forensic archaeology team led by Prof. Raj Somadave announced the conclusion of the 1st stage of the excavation. | 📸 P.Dilakshan

09.06.2025 20:43 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The 21st death anniversary of murdered Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan, gunned down by Sri Lanka's state backed paramilitary gunmen in May 2004, was marked in the eastern town of Batticaloa on Saturday (31) by his fellow journalists in the province. | 📸 Shashi Punniyamoorthy

31.05.2025 19:33 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Marking 3007 consecutive days of protest, families of the disappeared Tamils from Mānkulam, Thunukkāi & Manthai East flocked to northern town of Mankulam on Saturday (31), demanding justice for their loved ones who went missing in the hands of Sri Lankan military.

31.05.2025 10:15 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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NOW: A group of #Sinhala chauvinists linked to far-right outfit "Sinhala Rāvaya" tried to disrupt an indoor memorial event organised by social activists & religious communities in #Negombo, #SriLanka to mark the 16th anniversary of #Tamil Genocide, culminated in #Mullivaikkal.

24.05.2025 14:39 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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remembering the tens of thousands of Tamils massacred by the Sri Lankan state, those who continue to be denied justice, dignity and freedom, and those who fight every day for truth and accountability 🪔 #Mullivaikkal

18.05.2025 08:17 — 👍 31    🔁 12    💬 1    📌 0

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