The International Press Institute (IPI) condemns the brutal attack of Gnanasundaram Kuhanathan, the editor of the Tamil-language daily newspaper Uthayan in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. According to reports on several Tamil news and human rights websites, the 59-year-old journalist was hospitalized for serious head injuries after the unidentified assailants beat him with iron bars outside his home. He remains in critical condition.

“This attack is aimed at scaring our employees so they will leave journalism,” Uthayan’s publisher E. Sarvanapavan told Nidahasa News. The opposition newspaper has been known to defend the interests of the area’s Tamil minority, whose party, the Tamil National Alliance, recently swept local council elections. So far, no arrests have been made in the case.

This is the second attack in two months on an Uthayan journalist; reporter S. Kavitharan was attacked on his way to work on 28 May. On 2 May 2006, an armed gang stormed into Uthayan’s office, killing two journalists and injuring two more. Kuhanathan, who survived by hiding in the washroom, was believed to have been the target of that fatal incident.

”Twelve journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka since 2006 and none of the deaths have been solved,” said Alison Bethel McKenzie. “That is completely unacceptable. Sri Lankan authorities must take control of this situation. Journalists must be allowed to do their jobs without fear of attack or even death. The government must send a strong message to the public that attacks on journalists will not be tolerated. And when these attacks do occur, law enforcement must do everything in its power to bring the perpetrators to justice.”