Sudar Oli (Tamil:சுடர் ஒளி Cuṭar Oḷi) is aTamil languageSri Lankan dailynewspaper published by Mass Media Syndicate (Private) Limited, part of the Uthayan Group of Newspapers. It was founded in 2000 and is published fromColombo. Its sister newspaper is theJaffna basedUthayan. The newspaper has been attacked several times, a number of its staff have been murdered by paramilitary groups and other forces, and it regularly receives threats.
Sudar Oli was founded in Colombo on 10 September 2000 as a weekly newspaper. It became a daily newspaper on 29 October 2001. Nadesapillai Vithyatharan became the paper's editor in 2002.
In July 2006Sudar Oli andThinakkural were forced to stop distribution inBatticaloa District andAmpara District after receiving threatening phone calls allegedly from a government backed paramilitary headed byKaruna Amman.[1] Both papers resumed distribution in the districts later but circulation had fallen.[2]
Editor N. Vithyatharan was arrested by the police without awarrant on 26 February 2009 as he attended a funeral inMount Lavinia without awarrant and allegedly beaten in custody.[3][4] As international criticism of the arrest intensified the Sri Lankan government claimed Vithyatharan had been arrested in connections with theLTTE air raid on Colombo.[5][6] Vithyatharan was released on 24 April 2009 after the Colombo Crimes Division informed the court that there was no evidence connecting him to the air raid.[7][8] Vithyatharan alleged that he had been detained in order to prevent him highlighting the plight of the civilians in theVanni.[9][10]
Two grenades were thrown into the advertising office of theSudar Oli andUthayan inWellawatte, Colombo on 20 August 2005, but failed to explode.[13][14][15]
Two grenades were thrown into the offices of the newspaper inGrandpass, Colombo on 29 August 2005, killing security guard David Selvaratnam and injuring three others.[13][16][17]
Two parliamentary reporters were attacked as they waited for a bus on 30 August 2005.[18][19]
JournalistSubramaniyam Sugirdharajan (Sugitharajah) was shot dead inTrincomalee near governor's secretariat on 24 January 2006.[20] Sugirdharajan had provided photographic evidence to the media of themurder of five students by Sri Lankan security forces.[21][22][23] The day before his death Sugirdharajan had written an article in theSudar Oli exposing abuses committed by theEelam People's Democratic Party, a government backed paramilitary group, in the Trincomalee area.[24]
