The Asian Tribune is an online newspaper that provides news and editorial on the current affairs of Asia, with a special emphasis on South Asia but mostly concentrates its news on the current Civil conflict in Sri Lanka.
Contents
Publication began in 2002 and was based in Bangkok, Thailand. Its print edition was discontinued in 2011.
It has currently moved to Sweden.
Defamation conviction
A Swedish court found Asian Tribune Editor KT Rajasingham and the World Institute for Asian Studies guilty of "gross defamation". Norway journalist Nadarajah Sethurupan, who filed the lawsuit, claimed that Rajasingham called him and asked him to work with his secret unit to attack the Sri Lanka peace process. When Sethurupan refused to join, the hidden unit started attacking him as a "terrorist" on the Asian Tribune website. The attacks continued from 2005 to 2008.
A Swedish Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the lower court in February 2012 and ordered Rajasingham and the World Institute for Asian Studies Institute to pay Sethurupan about $20,000.
The editor
The editor, K.T. Rajasingham, is a minority Sri Lankan Tamil journalist. According to his blog, death threats have been allegedly issued against him by the Karuna Group.