Sri Lanka: Tamil journalist grilled for reporting on mass graves

Was documenting the excavation in Chammani and Kokkuthodvai sites

IFJ News

GLOBAL, August 18, 2025: Tamil photojournalist and human rights advocate Kanapathipillai Kumanan was interrogated by Sri Lanka’s counter-terrorism police on August 17 after reporting on mass grave excavations in the country’s Northern Province. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), in condemning the consistent intimidation and harassment of Tamil media workers and urges the authorities to ensure all journalists can work without fear of reprisal.

Kumanan received an order on August 7 from the Sri Lanka Counter Terrorism Investigation Division (CTID) to appear for questioning at the division’s Alampil office on August 17. The notice gave no reason for the inquiry, but the journalist was reportedly informed via telephone that the summons was in connection with his posts to social media. In a letter to Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission, the CTID alleged Kumanan’s reporting was ‘disrespectful to the military’ with the potential to incite unrest between the authorities and Tamil people.

The journalist had been documenting the excavation of mass graves in the Chammani and Kokkuthodvai sites in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority north in August, with more than 140 skeletons exhumed over 41 days. Kumanan’s photos had been widely shared by advocacy groups and news outlets prior to his police summons.

According to a statement published to Facebook on August 18, Kumanan said he was questioned extensively for almost 7 hours on his journalism and photography, social media, financial activity, phone records, and overseas travel. The president of Mullaitivu Press Club, Kumanan has reported on a range of human rights issues, including environmental destruction, military land acquisition, and enforced disappearances since the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009, and consistently documents campaigns for justice and ongoing issues experienced by survivor communities.

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