Thiagarajah Selvanithy or (Selvi) from Sri Lanka an

International PEN award PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internation ...

winner in 1992, who was abducted and executed by the LTTE.

Biography

Selvi was born into a

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

family in Semamadu, a village about 80 miles south of

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...

Activism

Selvi was a

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of P ...

poet from

in Sri Lanka. A third-year student in Theater and Drama Arts in the

University of Jaffna The University of Jaffna ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாணப் பல்கலைக்கழகம், translit=Yāḻppāṇap Palkalaikkaḻakam; si, යාපනය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ''Yāpanaya Viśvavidyālaya''; ...

. She was the founder of a feminist journal called ''Tholi'' and was a gifted young poet who in her work deplored the carnage brought about by the Sri Lankan civil war. Selvi also produced two plays, one about

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

payments and the other about

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

Abduction

On 30 August 1991, Selvi was arrested by the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

or LTTE, a rebel group fighting for independence for minority Sri Lankan Tamil people in Sri Lanka. The day before her abduction she was about to star in a play about the role of women in the Palestinian intifada. She was a prominent member of ''Poorani Illam'', a women's center in Jaffna, which gives support to women traumatized by government bombing raids and bereavement.

Murder

In 1997, LTTE sources acknowledged that she was killed along with another dissident, one Manoharan, also a final year University student. Although their opposition to the LTTE was non-violent, they were both killed in the LTTE's prison camps.

References

*
UTHR(J) report on Selvy's death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiyagarajah, Chelvy Year of birth missing 1997 deaths Sri Lankan Tamil poets Assassinated Sri Lankan activists Kidnapped Sri Lankan people Sri Lankan Hindus People killed during the Sri Lankan Civil War Kidnappings in Sri Lanka Violence against women in Sri Lanka

Biography

Activism

Abduction

Murder

See also

References