Keith Noyar - who disappeared from the media world while still alive..!

"The military is not the personal domain of its chief"

There were no investigations until 7 years after the 'good governance' government was formed..?

Keith Noyar is a journalist who has now disappeared. Keith Noyar's name has disappeared from the media world while he was still alive. Readers have not had the opportunity to read any comprehensive analysis written under his name in the past sixteen years since 2008. May 22, 2008 was the decisive day when Keith came to this situation. Keith Noyar was kidnapped by a group who could not bear Keith's sharp revelations and tortured him severely, putting an end to his media career on May 22, 2008.

The abduction and brutal attack on journalist Keith Noyar is one of the most infamous incidents of violence against the media in Sri Lanka. Keith worked as the co-editor of the now defunct Riviera Media Corporation newspaper The Nation. He was also a senior journalist covering the war for the newspaper. Keith wrote the weekly column ‘Military Matters’ for The Nation under the pen name ‘Senpathi’, which covered the security and war situation in Sri Lanka.

"The Army is not the personal domain of its commander"

The article published before Keith's abduction was written by Keith in a manner that criticized the war situation and political authorities at the time. The article, titled "The Army is not the personal domain of its commander," was said to be the proximate cause of Keith's abduction.
It is clear from the events that have now been revealed through investigations that the article could have led to him not only facing torture but also possibly taking his life if it had not been for the unconditional intervention of his colleagues and superiors.

The Last Supper

Keith is kidnapped the moment after he leaves for home after having dinner at a restaurant on Duplication Road in Colombo with Lalith Alahakoon, the editor of The Nation newspaper, and Krishantha Cooray, the CEO of Rivira Media Corporation, which owns it. (Rivira was also facing a challenge regarding the change of ownership at the time.) Keith arrives in his car in front of his house on Waidya Road, Dehiwala, and is kidnapped just as he is about to park the vehicle in front of the house. When Keith's wife arrives in front of the house, she is alarmed to see that Keith is not there and that the driver's door of the vehicle is unlocked and the engine is not turned off. Keith's wife, Roshini, informs the deputy editor of The Nation about this. The Deputy Editor of 'The Nation' then informed Lalith Alahakoon and Krishantha Cooray, who had dinner with Keith.

Mahinda's urgent call to Gota

The panic over Keith's abduction arose when Krishantha Cooray contacted Karu Jayasuriya, who was then the Minister of Public Administration, to inform him of the incident and requested a guarantee from the Minister regarding the safety of the co-editor of his institution's English newspaper. The Minister, who was prompted by this, informed President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who then called his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense.
In the meantime, several other incidents occurred. Krishantha Cooray went to the Dehiwala Police to complain about the incident and requested that his statement be recorded, but the police were not prepared to do so. (It is said that the then Dehiwala Police OIC Ranjith Kottachchi was a person who sought advice above all else.) Despite the police's neglect and the arguments between the then Colombo Crimes Division Chief, Senior Superintendent of Police Anura Senanayake and Krishantha Cooray, Keith's close associates continued to call his disconnected phone. They tried to send him text messages. When the Rivira Distribution Manager made a call, Keith's phone rang and the text messages were also connected to the phone. Accordingly, it was revealed that the messages had been exchanged from a tower in the Dekatana area of ​​Dompe. (These discoveries were made without the help of the police and based on the connections of Keith's boss.) With that information, Keith's close associates contacted an officer through a head of the Criminal Investigation Department and brought Keith back while he was still in Dompe. It is said that the time was around 5 am. Although the journalist, who was found severely tortured, was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital, his life was not guaranteed by law either then or later.
The political establishment, the media sector, civil society organizations and media organizations strongly protested the incident and urged the government to implement the law regardless of rank. However, according to the investigations that have been completed so far and the perpetrators have not been punished, it is very clear that there was no accountability for the journalist’s life at that time. Therefore, Keith chose the option of going abroad. After the incident, Keith was never seen involved in any process seeking justice for himself or in any media activities in Sri Lanka.

Investigations by the Good Governance Government

With the appointment of the 'Good Governance' government on January 8, 2015, many issues were discussed regarding the incident of the abduction and torture of journalist Keith Noyar, which was not investigated until 7 years had passed. The Criminal Investigation Department was assigned to conduct investigations into the incident. Sufficient evidence was found to confirm that the abduction of Keith Noyar was well planned and carried out. According to the B report of case No. 314 filed at the Mount Lavinia Court regarding the abduction and torture of Keith Noyar, the facts are as follows. (The phone numbers mentioned in the B report are not included here as a matter of ethical conduct.)

Keith's kidnapping according to 'B Report'

"x During the investigation into the abduction of journalist Keith Leroy Noyar, who was the deputy editor of 'The Nation' newspaper, on May 22, 2008, in front of his house at No. 52, Waidya Road, Dehiwala, where he resided, he was attacked by men who arrived in a white van with pistols and sticks when he got out of the car and opened the gate. They put him in a van, blindfolded him, handcuffed him, took his purse containing Rs. 2,000, and took a gold ring weighing about a pound. He was also beaten inside the van. He was driven for about an hour and then brought down again. He was lifted up by a stick through the handcuffs and taken to a house with large rooms, stripped and beaten, and asked what his connection was with the LTTE. and asked who gave you the information to put in the newspaper and then received a call there and then the person who spoke on the phone came to him and told him to put on clothes and wash off the mud and then put him in a van again and blindfolded him and took him to a place and threatened him saying 'If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you' and released him.
x Lalith Alahakoon, the editor-in-chief of 'The Nation' newspaper and Krishantha Cooray, the chairman of Riviera Media Corporation, called the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the phone number ..... but since he could not be reached, he called the phone number of the then Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and said 'I am Lalith Alahakoon speaking. Keith Noyar of the Nation newspaper has been kidnapped. The kidnapping was carried out by army commandos'. At that time, Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had said, "Don't point a finger at my army commandos. It's a woman's case."
x ..... Senior Superintendent of Police Anura Senanayake, who was the Director of the Colombo Crimes Division at the time, had visited Keith Noyar's house and inquired about the details from Lalith Alahakoon, and there Anura Senanayake had said, "That man will come in about two hours. I will send a team to investigate."
x Lalith Alahakoon had called the former Defense Secretary on the phone and informed him about this, and investigations were conducted into the telephone conversations that took place.
Also,
X A call was made from the phone number ..... used by the then Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to the phone number ..... used by the then IGP Jayantha Wickramaratne at 11.36 pm. Thereafter, at 11.39 pm, a call was made to the phone number ….. used by retired Major General Kapila Hendawitharana, who was the Chief of National Intelligence, from the phone used by the Defence Secretary.
X After the Defence Secretary informed IGP Jayantha Wickramaratne about this, the IGP called the phone number ….. at the residence of Senior Superintendent of Police Anura Senanayake at 11.51 pm.
X Thereafter, at 11.41 pm, a call was made to the phone number ….. provided by the Army to the then Director of Army Intelligence, Brigadier Amal Karunasekara, from the phone number ….. X Director of Intelligence Amal Karunasekera made a call from the phone number ….. issued by the Army to the Army Intelligence Unit based in Tripoli Camp at 11.47 pm. Amal Karunasekera’s phone was currently in the Javatta area, while the phone provided to the Tripoli Camp was in the Malwana area. (It has been revealed that Keith Noyarwa had been taken to the Malwana area.)
X Director of Intelligence Amal Karunasekera made a call from the phone number ….. issued by the Army Intelligence Unit based in Tripoli Camp at 11.48 pm. At that time, Major Bulathwatte's phone was in the Dekatana area of ​​Malwana. (That is, the area where Keith Noyar was abducted.)"

Five phone numbers belonging to the Tripoli Intelligence Unit

It has been identified that Keith Noyar's mobile phone was accompanied by five phone numbers belonging to the Tripoli Intelligence Unit. A group of soldiers belonging to an Intelligence Unit based at the Tripoli Army Camp in Maradana were also arrested. It has been identified that the above five army phone numbers have been activated in conjunction with his mobile phone from the journalist's office in Maradana and around his house, in the Dekatana area of ​​Dompe after his abduction. It was revealed that at the time of the journalist's abduction, a place called 'Baduwatta Walawwa' in Dompe was used on a rented basis by a group of the Army Intelligence Unit and that a group working under the Intelligence Unit of the Tripoli Army Camp in Maradana had used it. Investigations have also confirmed that the then Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had contacted the Intelligence Division Chief Kapila Hendawitharana and the Director of Intelligence at night. The CID took steps to present the journalist's statement in a court hearing held in February 2017 regarding the kidnapping of journalist Keith Noyar. The last time he wrote was about the bomb attack that took place on Lotus Road in Colombo, in which the journalist said that he was kidnapped a day after the article was published, directly criticizing the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense and the Minister of Defense.

"Hello Sir, Hello Sir" call during the attack

The CID has submitted to the court that the journalist had stated that he was attacked while being kidnapped and that he was asked how he got the information for his articles, who provided the information through secret channels, information about his wife and children and bank accounts. The journalist has stated that the abductors blindfolded him, stripped him half naked at the place of abduction, took his mobile phone and wedding ring, and that during the assault, they said "Hello sir, hello sir" after receiving a phone call from someone at the scene. Keith Noyar's statement states that they then stopped the assault and left him in the Mount Lavinia area, saying that if he told anyone that he had been assaulted, he would not let his children and family stay. The Criminal Investigation Department has stated that Keith Noyar stated that after the incident, a white van was seen roaming around his house and that he had moved to Melbourne, Australia with his children and wife. The Criminal Investigation Department actively intervened to obtain statements from former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, and even former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, regarding the abduction and torture of the journalist. Some witnesses joined the investigation, accusing each other.

Attempts to embarrass the Rajapaksas

At the time of these investigations, the political faction led by Mahinda Rajapaksa had become the Joint Opposition. As many facts were confirmed regarding the Keith Noyar kidnapping incident, the Joint Opposition continued to say that this was an attempt to embarrass the Rajapaksas. Although the political authorities at that time also said that the investigation was in the final stages, the situation was changing politically from time to time. Although it was becoming clear who the real criminals were when the chain of events was compared one by one, the government of good governance also kept silent about the criminals and suspects. After Gotabaya Rajapaksa became President in 2019, these investigations went up and down, and during the meeting of the Presidential Commission to Investigate Political Vengeances appointed on January 20, 2020, the measures regarding the suspects in the incident of kidnapping and torture of journalist Keith Noyar were changed. Retired Army Staff Sergeant Chandrabhaya Jayasuriya and retired Army Officer Priyantha Kumara Somasuriya, who were considered suspects in the incident, accused the heads of the Criminal Investigation Department of orchestrating the incident to take revenge on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime also took steps to reinstate Major Prahat Bulathwatte to active service. Since then, the process of getting justice for Keith Noyar has begun to falter again. Major Prahat Bulathwatte, the former head of the Tripoli Platoon of the Sri Lankan Army, is currently under sanctions by the United States in 2022 for human rights violations. The illegal military group accused of kidnapping journalist Keith Noyar and murdering the editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper Lasantha Wickramatunga in 2009 was led by Prabath Bulathwatte.
On 30.10.2017, Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate Lochana Abeywickrama ordered the release on bail of the suspects including former Director of Military Intelligence (Retd.) Major General Amal Karunasekara, who are suspected of kidnapping and assaulting Keith Noyar. This was due to Keith not participating in the identification parade. However, a process was revealed to establish the identity of the suspects from the above facts. Investigations have confirmed that Keith Noyar was kidnapped and tortured by a group of unknown individuals not because of a personal dispute with Keith. The names of the suspects in connection with the murder of journalists Lasantha Wickramatunga, the assault on Upali Tennakoon, and the assault on journalist Namal Perera were specifically named in these investigations.

The challenge of ending impunity

This incident is currently under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General's Department. The investigations conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department have been completed. The Attorney General's Department is responsible for taking appropriate action in this regard. Although the current Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Senior Superintendent of Police Imesha Muthumala, was questioned regarding the incident, no new facts were revealed from her. The maximum possible intervention by the Criminal Investigation Department has now been exhausted. It is important that the government also gives priority to this incident. The facts in Keith's incident have been compiled to the point where it is questioned whether public safety is an arbitrary act of a ruling class or a government. As the Minister of Defense, the President has also been charged with the responsibility of doing justice to Keith. The current government has the opportunity to show that Sri Lanka is a country that respects the rule of law by bringing justice to these incidents, instead of a period when it was branded a criminal state. Otherwise, the list of incidents of justice for innocent people will surely continue to grow, becoming an eternal responsibility of the Sri Lankan government.

(The Black January program, organized by the Free Media Movement and the Free Media Movement Trade Union, to commemorate journalists who were killed, disappeared, and attacked due to media reporting, and to urge the relevant parties to bring justice to them and their families, was held on January 31, 2025, at the Sri Lanka Press Institute Auditorium. In parallel with the program, a research article was written by journalist Shivanthi Fernando on the assault of journalist Keith Noyar, in a series of articles written by journalists currently engaged in media work on several selected crimes committed against the media in this country.)

(Shivanthi Fernando)