Accountability

Channel 4 News revealed that one of the victims was a high profile member of the Tamil Tigers – but claimed she was just a journalist rather than a direct fighter as a result of a heart condition. Issipriya was born in 1982 in Jaffna and was subsequently recruited by the LTTE and underwent military […]

20 June 2011,“In a grotesque perversion of humanity, the military had considered the mechanics of human grieving and come up with a novel way to kill tens of thousands: they would drop an initial shell on a village, usually killing those too old, weak or young to take shelter in time. Then they would wait […]

by Mangala Samaraweera The ineptitude of the present regime in the face of intensifying and relentless international pressure is driving Sri Lanka further and further into isolation and is likely to have devastating effects for this country’s prospects for rebuilding and reconciliation in the post-conflict phase. The release of the Channel 4 documentary on Sri Lanka, […]

War crimes: Tyrants are right to fear the new technology witnesses There was much in the documentary to commend. Its recognition that Tamil Tigers were prepared to use as pawns the civilians they claimed to represent; the forensic way it explored the UN’s unconscionable retreat as the conflict worsened; the wide range of experts interviewed […]

“Naked prisoners shot in the head; the dead bodies of women who had been raped, dumped on a truck; the immediate aftermath of a shell landing on a hospital – images caught on mobile phones of the atrocities committed in the final months of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war, left most of us shell-shocked” Every […]

Sri Lanka has accused Britain’s Channel 4 Television of not providing the government with a copy of the video titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ but assured that it is ready “to constructively engage” with the UN Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions.The offer to engage with Rapporteur Christof Heyns was made when Minister Mahinda […]

Govt. says not ruffled by decision18 June 2011/By Susitha R. FernandoA United States Federal Court has issued summons on President Mahinda Rajapaksa in connection with three civil cases filed under the Hague Convention claiming monetary damages under US Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA) over alleged extra-judicial killings, the Justice Ministry sources said. Sources said the […]

16 June 2011/By Andrew Buncombe, The British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said he was shocked after seeing footage of attacks on civilians shown in the Channel 4 documentary. The British Government has renewed calls for an independent investigation into allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka after a documentary showed civilians being shelled and […]

Denying the truth will not bury it15 June 2011, By Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka researcher Tonight Channel 4 screens its harrowing new documentary, “Sri Lanka, The Killing Fields”. The film highlights massive human rights abuses and violations of the laws of war by both parties to the conflict.Some of the more shocking imagery includes […]

The most pressing need is perhaps not to punish the offenders but to relieve the problems of the survivors and minimise the risk of further violence. Sooner or later, if the government’s response to disagreement is repression, discontent will boil over in one part or another of the island. Bloodshed is likely to follow, unless […]

16 June 2011 /  By Duminda BalasuriyaWhile rejecting the contents of the video aired on the British Channel 4 news channel, Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday said they have received information that a fake video had been created by Channel 4 news after obtaining money from pro-LTTE elements.“Once again some pro-LTTE elements have used […]

Britain has renewed calls for Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of war crimes after video footage apparently showing the summary execution of naked and bound prisoners was broadcast on UK television, in the documentary Sri Lanka’s Killing Field.The film, shown on Channel 4, reportedly shows “trophy videos” taken on mobile phones by Sri Lankan soldiers […]

By Serena Davies Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields went out at 11.00pm but was a flagship news programme for Channel 4, presented by the great Jon Snow and pitched as a clarion call for the world to wake up to the war crimes that allegedly took place during the final months of Sri Lanka’s 25-year-long civil […]

Innocents in the line of fireReviewed by Tom Sutcliffe This film contains very disturbing images,” warned Jon Snow at the beginning of Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields. It would, he continued, depict “death, injury, execution and evidence of sexual abuse and murder”. He was right too, though when the final credits rolled you couldn’t help but […]

‘Sri Lanka trying to pretend events of summarily executed prisoners are history, as the economy and tourism pick up. They are not’ Evidence that won’t be buried: On this occasion there are reasons why it was right to dispense with the responsibility broadcasters have to avoid causing distressGuardian UK Editorial, Jun 15, 2011 The footage […]

Other than the film by embedded “trusted” reporters and trophy mobile phone videos by the soldiers, the Sri Lankan authorities and the Sinhalese were in too much of a victorious mood, to realise that all their actions in the battlefield were under scrutiny by satellite surveillance of several nations. 12 June 2011/by Dushy Ranetunge in […]

Tue Jun 14 Sri Lanka has dismissed as fake a new documentary to be shown on British television on Tuesday, alleging atrocities were committed in the final weeks of the island’s war with Tamil rebels.The defence ministry in Colombo said the videos, to be broadcast publicly for the first time on Channel 4, were a fabrication […]

Wednesday 15 June 2011 The Foreign Office says Sri Lanka must give a serious response after “horrific scenes” and “convincing evidence of violations of human rights law” were broadcast last night on Channel 4. The film ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ documents the final bloody weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war – in which at […]

2011-06-14 In any military conflict injured and captured fighters are supposed to be treated in a dignified manner according to international law and Geneva Conventions. Injured fighters are supposed to have been given medical attention without any undue delay. However Sri Lankan military personnel seem to have disregarded all international law, humanity and abused dead and […]

Once you’ve got past its annoying ‘take me seriously’ tics, Luther is pure escapist TV drama He’s deep, he’s troubled and he doesn’t play by the rules. It’s the generic tag-line for every maverick cop show and Luther (BBC1) is no exception. At the end of the last series, Luther’s wife had been killed by […]

What new footage and new evidence of war crimes is in the Channel 4 documentary?•    Previously unaired mobile phone footage of point-blank extrajudicial executions of three people, including a woman.  •    Previously unaired mobile phone footage of dead Tamil Tigers, including women,,that suggests sexual abuse.•    First video testimony of a Tamil woman who says she […]

 11 June 2011,/ By Janith AranzeSince the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) viewed Channel 4’s startling documentary Killing Fields, depicting Tamil prisoners being summarily executed by Sri Lankan soldiers, the government refuses to acknowledge the documentary as a credible source.Jon Snow will present “Killing Fields” on June 14 – pic: Guardian.co.uk However, an extensive […]

Excerpt of the letter handed over to the UN High Commission for Human Rights – Ms. Navaneetham Pillai.As an organization which consistently pays careful attention to realities in Sri Lanka, we would like to present our observations below for your kind consideration.During the 16th session of the Human Rights Council, Sri Lanka Minister, Mr. Mahinda […]

By Namini Wijedasalobal politics is notoriously skewed. Large, powerful, white governments get away with murder even when it is committed on the territories of other countries. Sri Lanka does not have this luxury.We already knew that. We are always bleating about it. But unless Sri Lanka has a formula up its sleeve that will cure […]

Graphic footage showing summary executions during campaign against Tamil rebels to be shown next weekBy Ian Burrell, Media Editor The Dispatches documentary shows harrowing scenes from Sri Lanka that its makers say are evidence of war crimes.The Dispatches documentary shows harrowing scenes from Sri Lanka that its makers say are evidence of war crimes.Channel 4 […]

Interested parties are awaiting UN reactionBy Wilson GnanadassIt was not a shock, for the Sri Lankan delegation currently participating at the 17th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council when the controversial video footages depicting scenes of human rights violations allegedly committed by government soldiers was shown.The screening of the video was done Friday […]

2011-06-06Remarks after the screening of the Channel 4 documentary were – one human rights worker said ‘How did we let this happen to these people’….’Is that man still in power’ said a junior diplomat…..’In my country we would have hanged him a long time ago’ said another.The C4 documentary was very powerful. As the US […]

But the LLRC’s interim report (forming the basis of all Government action on LLRC recommendations to date) made no reference to those allegations and included no recommendations to pursue accountability; it restricted itself to practical fixes for long-acknowledged problems. UN Human Rights Council, Seventeenth Session,30 May – 17 June 2011General DebateMr President, Amnesty International welcomes […]

A  special investigation by Channel 4 featuring devastating new evidence of alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka is screened at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, as pressure mounts for action. The documentary is an hour-long investigation into the final weeks of the bloody Sri Lankan civil war and features damning new evidence of […]

by Hui Min Neo GENEVA (AFP) – Sri Lanka came under renewed pressure this week at the UN Human Rights Council over video footages detailing violations allegedly committed by soldiers during the country’s civil war. A UN investigator authenticated some of the footage early this week, while at the end of the week, a documentary […]