sri lanka killing fields

After years of Sri Lankan government denials, Channel 4’s evidence of war crimes and extra-judicial killings in Sri Lanka’s civil war is vindicated by a leaked government report, writes Callum Macrae. A long-delayed investigation ordered by Sri Lankan government will conclude that video evidence of war crimes and extra-judicial killings presented by Channel 4 in […]

[ From the No Fire Zone} “No Fire Zone,” a Pulitzer Center-supported film wins one of five BRITDOC Impact Awards. “No Fire Zone” reveals the shocking proof of secret war crimes committed during the final bloody months of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Pulitzer Center grantees, director Callum Macrae and producer Zoe Sale, tell the […]

Dr. Veerakanthipillai Shanmugarajah,refugee Medical Superintendent , Mullaitivu General Hospital, being a Hindu, honestly , sincerely and solemnly swear and MAKE OATH as follows: 1. I  am Dr.Veerakanthipillai Shanmugarajah, presently Medical Superintendent ,Mullaitivu.  I was born on 11 June 1968 and am presently 44 years old. I am a graduate of Jaffna University’s faculty of Medicine, […]

A preview screening of the BBC World documentary ‘Sri Lanka’s unfinished war’, which outlines several cases of rape and torture against Tamils in the North-East, took place at the Frontline club today. The screening was followed by a panel discussion with the producer of the documentary, Frances Harrison, producer of the No Fire Zone documentaries, Callum Macrae […]

Callum Macrae  The reaction of the people I met in Sri Lanka is at odds with the intimidation against me engineered by a despotic government A film shot in January 2009 allegedly shows a Sri Lankan soldier executing a Tamil Tiger prisoner. Photograph: Journalists For Democracy/AFP/Getty Images They haunt our every move, on their motorbikes […]

Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella today stated that an investigation was underway as to how journalists belonging to United Kingdom’s Channel-4 was able to question President Mahinda Rajapaksa, breaking protocol at the Commonwealth Business Forum event held yesterday amid tight security.The Channel4 journalists were seen questioning President Rajapaksa on allegations of war […]

FITS Aviation Ground Handling Officer, Siriwansa, told Ceylon Today that the Civil Air Services Authority had informed them (FITS) to suspend all air travel to Jaffna from 10-18 November in view of the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM).He added that FITS has been informed of this through a fax (cord system). FITS tours normally […]

The Commonwealth Secretariat says it is “disturbed” by scenes and testimonies in the ‘No Fire Zone’ video on Sri Lanka.Commonwealth Secretariat spokesman Richard Uku tweeted saying the controversial video show the ugliness of war.He said that learing lessons and reconciliation are key for Sri Lanka to go forward. “According to international standards, truth, accountability and […]

The Sunday Leader learns that defence authorities were placed on high alert last week after information was received that a Channel 4 journalist was in the country. Intelligence agencies had initially alerted the Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) to look for the journalist and his partner who were believed to have been staying at an apartment in […]

Scene form Broken directed by Kannan Arunasalam Dilrukshi Handunnetti An ongoing regional film festival showcasing documentaries focusing on South Asia suffered a severe setback on Thursday (3), when organizers announced that the Sri Lankan Government had pressured Nepali authorities to ban the screening of three films on Sri Lanka.But the organizers have responded with lightening […]

Once again the government of Sri Lanka has tried to prevent an international screening of No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, this time in Nepal. Once again they have failed because of the determination of defenders of human rights and free speech.Yesterday the Nepali authorities gave the organisers of the Film Southasia […]

 The Sri Lankan government still denies responsibility forthe killing of up to 70,000 Tamil civilians at the end of the civil war in 2009. So why has it been chosen to host a Commonwealth summit asks Callum Macrae, director of a harrowing film about the massacre Two young girls caught up in the shelling … […]

The Ministry of External Affairs said yesterday the Sri Lankan Government is willing to probe war crime allegations made by Channel 4 in the Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields video, provided the UK-based television broadcaster hands over the original video documentary to check whether the footage is genuine or ‘doctored.’The ministry confirmed the government has revealed […]

Peter Splinter of AI ( left) Callum Macrae (right) discussing g the film at UNHRC side event on 1st March 2013 After the screening of NO Fire Zone at UNHRC side event , Amnesty International talked to Callum Macrae, the director of “No Fire Zone” and the Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields series. Amnesty International: How […]

By Stephanie Nebehay | Reuters  GENEVA (Reuters) – A documentary purporting to show the execution of civilians and other war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan army had its first public screening on Friday but was swiftly rejected by the government as part of an “orchestrated campaign” against it. The documentary “No Fire Zone: The […]

In a strange move the Government of Sri Lanka send a letter to the President of the UNHRC on the first day of the 22nd session calling for censorship within the UN premises. In two page letter GoSL said that the GoSL strongly protest the use of the premises of UN for the screening of […]

p1police Supporters of the slain politician demand justice and blame police. Pic by Indika Handuwela Gunmen who came on a motorcycle shot dead a Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha UPFA member just outside his house at Waragoda in Kelaniya last evening, heightening the tension in the area that has seen a hostile political battle between two ruling […]

Come dance at “place where thousands of war heroes, terrorists and others died” HuffingtonPost, Frances Harrison, The Sri Lankan military is advertising a newly constructed hotel in the heart of the killing fields in the north of the island, where tens of thousands of minority Tamils were killed in 2009. The holiday resort, called Lagoon’s […]

The trail of dead bodies might lead to anywhere or nowhere. Speculations are endemic that they might lead to either the ‘71 April insurrection or ’87 – ’89 terror era. Wherever they may lead, let’s hope not too many more corpses or their remains would be found.What was discovered at the Matale Hospital premises tells […]

A returnee settlement in Puthumathalan4 Photo by author Marisa de Silva   Recently returned to Puthumathalan“As you drive past pile upon pile of corroding vehicles stacked one above the other, past pots, pans, sarees, slippers and plates (that once belonged to the people here), strewn all over the ground, and past the bullet and shrapnel splattered […]

Full Text of Letter, Signed by 31 US Legislators:  The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State U.S. Department of State Washington, DC 20520 Dear Madam Secretary: September 21, 2012 We write to express our concerns regarding reconciliation and accountability progress in Sri Lanka following its 26-year civil war and the alleged commitment of war […]

brother of president’s wife A massive cover up is underway to conceal and shield Chairman SriLankan Airlines Nishantha Wickramasinghe  from being prosecuted for having in his possession an undeclared Rs. 4 million worth of currency both local and foreign. Repeated attempts by The Sunday Leader to verify from Nishantha Wickramasinghe how he had Rs. 4 million […]

By: Frances HarrisonToday marks three years since the end of the fighting in Sri Lanka. I would like to mourn the dead but still I do not know how many. Estimates range from seven to 147,000. It is a shocking difference.  How is it possible in this world of satellites, rolling news and internet we […]

India stance towards the Eelam War IV changed from ‘negotiations’ and ‘peace talks’ between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers to ‘terrorism should be countered with resolve’ in late 2008, a book written with considerable establishment support, ‘Gota’s War,’ launched here on Monday has said.This means that the Indian change of heart happened […]

Ravi Nessman from Associated Press has broken what’s perhaps the most important story on the war, since it ended three years ago. In a story published by AP a few hours ago, he notes, The Associated Press obtained a copy Thursday of an email written by a U.N. land mine expert that said unexploded cluster […]

Indian television Headlines Today journalist Priyamvatha’s investigative reports from Vanni last year titled “I Witnessed Genocide: Inside Sri Lanka’s killing fields,” has won the prestigious “Best Investigative Report” award at the 2012 News Television Award in New Delhi, media sources in Chennai said. Ms. Priyamvatha went undercover to the Vanni to report on the survives […]

UK Foreign Office Minister for North America and the Middle East & North Africa, Alistair Burt has stated that to achieve lasting peace Sri Lanka requires a full and honest acknowledgement of the past and it requires processes, in which all parties take part, to ensure justice, reconciliation and political progress.  Burt speaking after the […]

By Claudia JosephA documentary showing graphic new footage of executed civilians in Sri Lanka, including the son of the leader of the Tamil Tigers, hopes to provide conclusive evidence of war crimes by its government. A year after screening Jon Snow’s award-winning documentary Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields about the dying days of the civil war […]

Footage of atrocity committed at the end of the government’s war with the Tamil Tigers is revealedIt is a chilling piece of footage that represents yet another blow for the beleaguered Sri Lankan government in its attempts to head off a critical resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva this week.The short […]

Last year Channel 4 broadcast Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, a critically-acclaimed and RTS Award winning forensic investigation into the events of the last few weeks of the decades-long war between the government of Sri Lanka and the rebel forces of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), presented by Jon Snow. It featured devastating video evidence of war […]