Murdered editor predicted own death in obituary

A PROMINENT Sri Lankan journalist and critic of the government's war on ethnic Tamils who was shot dead had written his own obituary.

Lasantha Wickrematunge was ambushed by gunmen on motorcycles as he drove to work in the capital Colombo last Thursday. His newspaper the Sunday Leader published the posthumous column, entitled "And Then They Came For Me", in which the journalist says he was targeted for his writings, adding: "When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me."

He claimed: "Murder has become the primary tool whereby the state seeks to control the organs of liberty. Today it is the journalists, tomorrow it will be the judges." Thousands of people turned Wickrematunge's funeral into an anti-government protest yesterday.

His death followed an attack on a private TV and radio network by more than a dozen men armed with assault rifles and grenades last week. The station, like Mr Wickrematunge, had been accused by the state media of not being "patriotic" enough in reporting military successes against Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in the north of the country.

Reporters Without Borders blamed the government for creating an atmosphere of impunity that spurred such attacks.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised an investigation. Wickrematunge's obituary mocked him, saying "like all the inquiries you have ordered in the past, nothing will come of this one, too".