On this day nine years ago, a political cartoonist went to work in Colombo.
He never came home.
Prageeth Eknaligoda was an outspoken critic of the government of Sri
Lanka. He worked tirelessly to expose the gross human rights violations
committed against Tamil civilians during the civil war. It was his
investigations into the government’s alleged use of chemical weapons
against its own people that many have suggested was the reason for
Prageeth’s abduction on 24th January 2010, as he travelled on the
evening commute.
He is one of many media workers in Sri Lanka – including many lesser known Tamil journalists – to have been disappeared or killed during the armed conflict and its aftermath.
For nearly a decade, Prageeth’s wife, Sandhya, has fought unrelentingly
to uncover the truth about what happened to her husband, and to bring to
book those responsible for his disappearance. She has made countless court appearances, battled misinformation campaigns, and faced down appalling threats and intimidation from
nationalist thugs. Yet despite her efforts, and the arrest of a number
of suspects, Sri Lanka’s grindingly slow court system is yet to deliver
justice.
To mark this day, we wanted to share with you a couple of
powerful short video clips featuring Sandhya hosted on the citizen
journalism website, Groundviews.
We’d like to invite our supporters to demonstrate their solidarity with
Sandhya – who is today speaking in Colombo – by sharing a link to these
videos on social media along with a message of support, or one of the many striking cartoons by or in tribute to Prageeth. (Alternatively you can send us a note by email, and we will do our very best to pass it on).
