U.N. to investigate Prageeth Eknelygoda's disappearance

By Bob Dietz
CPJ Asia Program Coordinator

One of Prageeth Eknelygoda's last cartoons.

Tuesday's letter from CPJ and four other groups to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon apparently had some impact. The Canadian Press reported today that Ban has asked the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO, which oversees press freedom, to look into the case of Prageeth Eknelygoda, a Sri Lankan columnist and cartoonist missing for more than a year.

The letter was the latest in a campaign by media support groups in and out of Sri Lanka to help Sandhya Eknelygoda and her two sons in their battle to learn the whereabouts of their husband and father. Prageeth, a columnist and cartoonist for the Lanka eNews website, disappeared on January 24, 2010. Since then, the family has been asking the Sri Lankan government for any information about his fate. Not one government official has given them any information, and there is no credible investigation going on into his disappearance.

The Cartoonists Rights Network International, International Media Support, Reporters Without Borders, and the International Federation of Journalists also signed on to the letter. [Courtesy: http://www.cpj.org/]