FORMER LTTEr SAYS PRAGEETH EKNELIGODA DISCUSSED WITH HIM TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA IN AUGUST 2009 – WHY IS THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA THAT WROTE ABOUT HIS DISAPPEARANCE NOT REPORTING ON ASSASSINATION BID?
Prageeth Ekneligoda left the Lanka e-News office on 24 January 2010 and did not return home. Sandya Ekneligoda reported him missing the next day- 25 January 2010.
In his article published on 27 August 2015, Uvindu Kurukulasuriya reported that the CID had found evidence that Prageeth Ekneligoda had been living with another woman in Matale rather than with his wife. The article further stated that the CID had established that Sandya Ekneligoda and her friend JVP activist Kelly Senanayake had visited the Matale woman’s house. These reported CID findings raise questions about Prageeth’s living arrangements and the circumstances surrounding the January 2010 disappearance as well as his wifes complaint.
Former Daily Mirror News Editor Sandun Jayasekera stated that, in his 30 years in the media, he had never read a news item written by Prageeth Ekneligoda. He also reportedly questioned how Prageeth had come to be described as a journalist.
The surviving blog material reportedly contains just two articles and 53 cartoons, one of the articles being on chemical weapons. There was no series of chemical-weapons articles in the material cited. No one knew Prageeth had even written an article on chemical weapons till after his “disappearance”.
What is also not often publicised is that Prageeth was reportedly abducted in August 2009 and subsequently released. According to the account attributed to him, his captors told him he had been taken by mistake and he was “of no use to us”. What changed between August 2009 and January 2010? Were the two incidents connected, and what evidence establishes the circumstances of each?
Can an article/cartoon published in a non-mainstream media result in a kidnapping & disappearance? If so some of Sri Lanka’s famous mainstream cartoonists should have disappeared.
The article reportedly dates to December 2008 and, according to Sandya Ekneligoda, drew on information from religious sources in Northern Sri Lanka. Who were these sources, what exactly did they report, and what evidence supported their claims? The Eastern Province had been declared liberated from LTTE control in July 2007. Why did the article focus on alleged chemical-weapons use in the North? Why didn’t Prageeth cover chemical weapons usage in Eastern battle?
When did the claim first emerge that Prageeth disappeared because of his chemical-weapons article? Sandya referred to religious sources and material allegedly provided in writing to diplomats. Who were these sources and diplomats? Where are the original documents, and have they been independently examined? If this evidence exists, why has it not been produced and scrutinised? Why doesn’t Sandya produce any evidence?
Why have international media repeatedly circulated the chemical-weapons explanation without clearly identifying the original evidence, the sources who supplied it, and whether the alleged connection to Prageeth’s disappearance was independently established? Sandya should be asked to identify the evidence she says exists, and the media should explain what they independently verified.
Obviously none of the media have thought it right to wonder what they are writing about except circulating the same media report differently worded all over the world?
However, from 24 January 2010 – that Prageeth did not return home resulted in a flurry of international media statements, local entourage of same characters issuing statements.
The following documents statements issued by international organisations, United Nations bodies, journalists and local advocates over the years. Not all made the same claim: some called for an investigation or information about his whereabouts, while others described him as a journalist or linked his disappearance to press freedom. The question is whether those who specifically promoted the chemical-weapons explanation can substantiate that connection and whether their reporting should now be reviewed in light of the October 2026 court testimony.
- International organisations and media freedom bodies
Amnesty International — 26 January 2010 (days after his “disappearance”)
“DEMAND INVESTIGATION INTO MISSING JOURNALIST”
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa37/003/2010/en/
- Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT) — 9 February 2010
The organisation issued an urgent intervention concerning the disappearance of Prageeth Ranjan Bandara Ekneligoda and called for action to establish his whereabouts.
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF) — 10 August 2010
“Find journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda and give him back to us!”
https://rsf.org/en/where-prageeth-0
- Human Rights Watch — 24 January 2011
“There has been no sign of a serious investigation.”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2011/01/24/sri-lanka-no-progress-investigating-journalists-disappearance
- Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) — 8 June 2011
Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia programme coordinator: “Sandhya Eknelygoda’s failure in her quest for justice for her husband exposes the malfunction of the Sri Lankan government and the U.N.”
He added: “We call on the U.N. to step forward and help her.”
https://cpj.org/2011/06/sri-lankan-journalist-missing-for-500-days/
- Reporters Without Borders — 8 June 2011
“In all this time, no progress has been made in the investigation into his disappearance.”
https://rsf.org/en/interview-wife-cartoonist-prageeth-ekneligoda-who-disappeared-500-days-ago
- Human Rights Watch — 9 June 2013
“Solving the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda … should be a top priority.”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/09/sri-lanka-reveal-fate-disappeared-cartoonist
- Amnesty International — 24 January 2023
Yasasmin Kaviratne: “This is exactly what happened to Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda…”
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/01/where-is-prageeth/?
- Reporters Without Borders — 6 December 2024
RSF called on Sri Lanka’s new government to ensure that the case concerning Prageeth Ekneligoda’s disappearance was fully addressed.
- United Nations reports and officials
United Nations Human Rights Committee — observations concerning Sri Lanka
The Committee’s material records the claim made by former Attorney General Mohan Peiris that Ekneligoda had gone abroad, alongside subsequent developments in the investigation.
- Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights — 9 February 2021
In her report on Sri Lanka, Bachelet referred to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Political Victimization intervening in ongoing legal proceedings, including the Ekneligoda case.
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3907053/files/A_HRC_46_20-EN.pdf
- UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and UN Special Rapporteurs — 17 November 2021
The joint communication recorded that the Ekneligoda case had been registered with the Working Group on 3 February 2010 and remained outstanding. It also raised concerns about alleged reprisals and harassment affecting Sandya Ekneligoda.
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=26789&
- UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances — September 2022
The Committee’s meeting record includes Sandya Ekneligoda’s testimony that her husband had been abducted and released in August 2009 and then abducted and disappeared in January 2010.
- Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights — May 2024
The OHCHR report Accountability for Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka summarised the Ekneligoda investigations and legal proceedings, including the separate proceedings relating to the reported 2009 incident and the January 2010 disappearance.
Sri Lankan journalists and media organisations
- Sunanda Deshapriya — 13 February 2010
Reporting on Sandya Ekneligoda’s appeal, Deshapriya’s article quoted her as saying:
“If Prageeth is being detained somewhere, please let us at least hear a recording of his voice.”
- Sunanda Deshapriya — 15 March 2010
Published a report titled Journalists Take to the Streets for Prageeth.
https://sunandadeshapriya.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/journalists-take-to-the-streets-for-prageeth/
- Sunanda Deshapriya — 25 March 2010
Published a report titled Eknaligoda Disappearance: CCD Takes Over.
https://sunandadeshapriya.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/eknaligoda-disappearance-ccd-takes-over/
- Uvindu Kurukulasuriya — 14 September 2011
“Was his abduction a result of his journalism or something else?”
“Was he really a journalist or a poser?”
- Uvindu Kurukulasuriya — 17 September 2011
Kurukulasuriya wrote that Gordon Weiss had “either got his facts wrong or has, for reasons best known to him, deliberately exaggerated the issue.”
He challenged the chronology in Weiss’s account, noting that the first reported abduction of Ekneligoda was on 27 August 2009, while Namal Perera was attacked on 30 June 2008.
- Uvindu Kurukulasuriya — 27 August 2015
Published an article titled Prageeth’s Matale Mistress and Douglas Devananda’s Secretary to Be Questioned.
- Sandun Jayasekera, Daily Mirror News Editor — February 2016
A report attributed the following statements to Jayasekera:
“In his 30 years of serving as a journalist he had never read a news item written by him.”
He was also quoted as asking:
“How did ‘Prageeth Ekneligoda become a journalist’?”
- Daily Mirror — 12 June 2013
Published a report titled Ekneligoda Mystery Pops Up ‘Third Disappearance’.
https://www.dailymirror.lk/print/opinion/ekneligoda-mystery-pops-up-third-disappearance-/172-30822
- Sandaruwan Senadheera, Editor of Lanka e-News — 30 June 2026
“There’s a rumour that payments for private lawyers appearing for the accused in these cases are being sourced via an alleged secret fund coming under the purview of the military.”
“We have revealed this twice and nobody has either denied it or have responded to these allegations.”
- Six Sri Lankan media organisations — 12 October 2026
The Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Unions, South Asian Women in Media–Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum and Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance issued a joint statement concerning a campaign targeting Sandya Ekneligoda.
The statement said:
“For more than 16 years, Ms Ekneligoda has sought truth and justice for her husband, Prageeth Ekneligoda, the journalist who disappeared in January 2010.”
“Respect for the rule of law cannot depend on whether a judicial decision serves one’s interests or convictions.”
- Civil society and human rights advocates
Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu / Centre for Policy Alternatives — March 2010
A piece published under the title From Richard De Zoysa to Ekneligoda: The Slide stated:
“Ekneligoda’s disappearance is yet another statistic of shame in the long list of disappearances, abductions and extra-judicial killings that have targeted the media in particular over the last four years.”
https://jdsrilanka.blogspot.com/2010/03/from-richard-de-zoysa-to-ekneligoda.html
- Jehan Perera, National Peace Council
In his commentary Collateral Damage of Delaying the Transitional Justice Process, Perera wrote:
“Whatever the motivations of those who made Prageeth go missing, his enforced disappearance like those of thousands of others is a heinous crime.”
https://groundviews.org/2026/01/19/the-unfinished-fight-for-justice-in-the-prageeth-eknaligoda-case/
- Lionel Bopage — 19 January 2026
Bopage described the case as: “A sobering reminder of the impunity that still plagues Sri Lanka’s human rights and press freedom.”
Source: Groundviews — The Unfinished Fight for Justice in the Prageeth Ekneligoda Case
Sandya Ekneligoda public statements that she must now clarify with evidence
- Sandya Ekneligoda — 2012
In an interview with JDS, Sandya stated:
“I will not rest until I find Prageeth.”
- Sandya Ekneligoda — 28 April 2011
In a letter addressed to Shiranthi Rajapaksa, she wrote:
“I am Sandhya Ekneligoda, wife of Prageeth Ekneligoda, journalist and cartoonist who disappeared on January 24, 2010, because he used his pen and paint brush to fight for democracy and freedom of expression.”
https://cpj.org/2011/05/in-sri-lanka-a-mothers-plea-to-the-first-lady/
- Sandya Ekneligoda — 2019
In a letter to Attorney General Dappula de Livera concerning the Ekneligoda case, she wrote:
“I stand as a witness to emphasize that they were at their best in presenting their arguments.”
- Sandya Ekneligoda — 15 June 2022
At an International Federation of Journalists event, she stated:
“I come from a country that does not have justice for victims and keeps impunity for offenders.”
Source: Sri Lanka Brief — Sandya Ekneligoda’s Statement to the IFJ
Bombshell – October 2026 court testimony & Prageeths LTTE connections
Then came the bombshell that flips the entire narrative
Sumathipala Suresh Kumar, known as Murali, a former LTTE member, testified during the October 2026 proceedings that he had a close relationship with Prageeth, whom he described as being like a brother.
As per media reports on 16–17 October, Murali spoke about meeting Prageeth in his garden in Habarana in August 2009 and discussed the possibility of assassinating then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa by attacking an aircraft with a missile. Reports also state that Murali informed senior LTTE figures, including Tamilselvan and Pottu Amman, about his association with Prageeth.
Murali reportedly testified that he had spoken to Prageeth three times on 24 January 2010 the day he disappeared.
These statements raise serious questions about the nature of Prageeth’s relationship with Mural and the LTTEi, the extent of their contact, and what investigators knew about these connections. The testimony must be examined alongside the earlier claims that Prageeth disappeared because of his chemical-weapons article.
Uvindu Kurukulasuriya has also written about Prageeth’s reported wealth and assets.
All these years we have been presented a narrative that an innocent cartoonist had been kidnapped and remains missing to date all because of 1 article about chemical weapons. With several other articles written by others about him & his disappearance we were able to piece together different bits of news which has given rise to more questions:
Sources:
- https://www.newswire.lk/2026/10/17/former-ltte-member-reveals-alleged-discussions-with-missing-journalist-prageeth-ekneligoda-in-court/
- https://island.lk/ex-tiger-witness-claims-ekneligoda-proposed-to-fire-missile-at-mrs-plane/
- https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/they-made-me-call-eknaligoda-former-ltte-fighter-testifies-in-court/
- https://colombotribune.com/witness-tells-court-of-ties-with-prageeth-ekneligoda/
Was he abducted—or could he have left Sri Lanka?
- If the December 2008 chemical-weapons article caused Prageeth’s disappearance, where is the proof? By 2028, nearly 20 years will have passed. Can those who promoted this explanation produce the evidence?
- If Prageeth was abducted and released in August 2009, who abducted him, why was he released, and what evidence connects that incident to his reported disappearance in January 2010?
- Was he actually abducted – given the new testimony emerging we have every right to wonder?
- If Prageeth was living with another woman in Matale – why did Sandya lodge police complaint on 24 January 2010 that he did not come home and travel to the home of the mistress a few days later with JVP activist Kelly Senanayake?
- If Prageeth was living with another woman in Matale, what did the CID establish about his living arrangements, her statement to the CID, his last movements
What were his links with LTTE & since when?
- If former LTTE member Murali described Prageeth as being like a brother how long had they known each other, and what did Murali tell senior LTTE figures about their relationship?
Was the chemical-weapons narrative used to divert attention from his reported LTTE links?
- If Sandya knew the sources behind the chemical-weapons article, who were they, what documents did they provide, which diplomats received them, and where is the evidence today?
Did he discuss assassinating a sitting President?
- If, as reported in the October 2026 court testimony, Prageeth discussed a missile attack on President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s aircraft with Murali in August 2009, what exactly was discussed, and who else knew about it?”
- If Sandya maintains that the article explains his disappearance, what evidence supports that claim, and what did she know about his LTTE contacts and the reported August 2009 plot to assassinate President Rajapakse?
- Could the chemical weapons narrative have been created to deflate his fleeing or downplay the assassination plotting?
Could he have fled Sri Lanka with help of LTTE?
- If Murali spoke to Prageeth three times on 24 January 2010, could those calls have involved arrangements for Prageeth to leave Sri Lanka with LTTE assistance? Has this possibility been investigated?
What is the role of international media in this saga?
- If international media independently verified that Prageeth disappeared because of his journalism, which sources and documents established that motive to commit their reports to that assertion?
- Why did international organisations and local advocates repeatedly publicise the chemical-weapons explanation without scrutinizing the claim and demanding evidence from his wife?
- Now that the October 2026 court testimony has brought Prageeth’s reported LTTE connections into focus, will international media investigate these questions, review their earlier reporting and correct any claims they presented as established fact without sufficient evidence?
If the demand is for truth, why should any credible line of inquiry be excluded?
The October 2026 court testimony raises questions that can no longer be ignored. International media must answer for the claims they made, the evidence on which they relied, and whether they are prepared to revisit their narrative.
We must also ask why the same international media and organisations that made such a flurry of statements over Prageeth’s disappearance have remained silent on the reported LTTE links and the court testimony concerning discussions about assassinating a President.
If they considered his disappearance important enough to issue repeated statements over the years, why are they not addressing these new revelations about assassinating a President with the same urgency? Will they investigate, demand explanations and review what they previously reported?
Shenali D Waduge
