Saturday Review (Sri Lankan newspaper)

The Saturday Review was founded in 1982 by K. Kanthasamy, K. C. Thangarajah and others.[1] The paper was published by a company called Kalai Nilayam and its first editor was S. Sivanayagam.[2][3][4] The first edition of the paper was published on 30 January 1982.[5][6] The paper was bought by New Era Publications Limited in August 1982.[2]

The Saturday Review was shut down by the Sri Lankan government on 1 July 1983 using the recently passed emergency law - the Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers) Regulations 1983.[2][5] The police sealed the paper's offices the next day.[2][7] Fearing arrest, Sivanayagam escaped to Tamil Nadu, India in September 1983 with the help of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).[5][8] The bans on the Saturday Review and another paper, the Suthanthiran, were lifted on 24 January 1984 but the papers were subject to strict censorship by the government.[9] A fundamental rights petition contesting the government's ban on the Saturday Review was heard by the Supreme Court with leading lawyer S. Nadesan acting for the paper.[10][11][12] The petition was dismissed by the court.

Gamini Navaratne took over as editor of the paper in February 1984 when the newspaper was restarted.[13] As the civil war escalated newspapers published from Jaffna came under pressure from both government forces and the rebel militant groups. The Saturday Review ceased publishing in October 1987.[14] There were attempts to revive the paper in 1988 but these came to an end with the kidnap and murder of Kanthasamy in June 1988.[14]