Iavy Iqbal Athas, Sri Lanka, is the political editor at The Sunday Times in Colombo.
He was previously the paper's defence correspondent, reporting on the near three-decade-long separatist war. He has also served as the consultant editor of The Sunday Times, the largest Sunday English newspaper in Sri Lanka.
Athas has functioned as a Sri Lanka-based stringer for CNN for over 22 years.
Previously, he was the Colombo correspondent for Worldwide Television News (WTN) until it was acquired by Associated Press. He also served for 18 years as Colombo correspondent for United Press International (UPI).
Among the awards won by Athas are the 1994 International Press Freedom Award from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Journalist of the Year 1998 awarded by the Editors Guild of Sri Lanka, and Columnist of the Year 2001 awarded by the Editors Guild of Sri Lanka.
Athas has addressed overseas events like the Seminar on Asian Security in Hawaii and annual sessions of the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) in Washington DC. He was also a member of the Sri Lanka delegation to the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2018.
