War crimes in Sri Lanka

This video, broadcast in Britain, made in Sri Lanka, says about itself:

Jon Snow presents a forensic investigation into the final weeks of the quarter-century-long civil war between the government of Sri Lanka and the secessionist rebels, the Tamil Tigers.

With disturbing and distressing descriptions and film of executions, atrocities and the shelling of civilians the programme features devastating new video evidence of war crimes – some of the most horrific footage Channel 4 has ever broadcast.

Captured on mobile phones, both by Tamils under attack and government soldiers as war trophies, the disturbing footage shows: the extra-judicial executions of prisoners; the aftermath of targeted shelling of civilian camps; and dead female Tamil fighters who appear to have been raped or sexually assaulted, abused and murdered.

The film is made and broadcast as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon faces growing criticism for refusing to launch an investigation into ‘credible allegations’ that Sri Lankan forces committed war crimes during the closing weeks of the bloody conflict with the Tamil Tigers.

In April 2011, Ban Ki-moon published a report by a UN-appointed panel of experts, which concluded that as many as 40,000 people were killed in the final weeks of the war between the Tamil Tigers and government forces.

It called for the creation of an international mechanism to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed by government forces and the Tamil Tigers during that time.

This film provides powerful evidence that will lend new urgency to the panel’s call for an international inquiry to be mounted, including harrowing interviews with eye-witnesses, new photographic stills, official Sri Lankan army video footage, and satellite imagery.

Also examined in the film are some of the horrific atrocities carried out by the Tamil Tigers, who used civilians as human shields.

Channel 4 News has consistently reported on the bloody denouement of Sri Lanka‘s civil war. Sri Lanka‘s Killing Fields presents a further damning account of the actions of Sri Lankan forces, in a war that the government still insists was conducted with a policy of Zero Civilian Casualties.

The film raises serious questions about the consequences if the UN fails to act, not only with respect to Sri Lanka but also to future violations of international law.

You can follow the programme on Twitter using #KillingFields

Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields will be shown to MPs and parliamentary officials at a special showing in the House of Commons next week.

If you wish to contact your MP directly on this or any other matter you can go to Theyworkforyou.com … to find out who your representative is and how to contact them.

What the Sri Lankan regime has done is definitely worse than Gadaffi in Libya.

So, will there be a NATO “no fly zone”, later expanding into a full-blown foreign invasion, now in Sri Lanka, like in Libya? Don’t count on it. There is no conflict on oil royalties with the Sri Lanka regime like western Big Oil had with the Libyan regime just before NATO started bombing. Just like NATO does not intervene in Bahrain … Saudi Arabia … Gaza … etc. etc.

The British government continues to license millions of pounds in arms to the Sri Lankan regime despite suggestions that they may have been used in war crimes, campaigners claimed yesterday: here.

British politicians ought to hang their heads in shame over their complicity in the shameful atrocities in the closing days of the Sri Lanka civil war.

India uses UN report on Sri Lanka to assert its interests: here.

The big lie has become the standard response of the Colombo establishment to all evidence of the atrocities carried out by the military in the final months of its onslaught on the LTTE: here.

The Sri Lankan army has carried out its first major assault on Tamil civilians since the war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in May 2009: here.

Sri Lankan court examines police shooting of FTZ worker: here.

Sri Lankan General Admits War Crimes; US May Hold Crucial Supporting Evidence. Emanuel Stoakes, Truthout: “The extrajudicial killing of civilians, surrendering soldiers and dissident journalists under the direction of the Sri Lankan government has been alleged by a former general in the Army who was extremely well-placed to comment on military activity during the island nation’s bloody civil war…. It is believed that representatives of the United States State Department have spoken to the source and hold a rich collection of testimonies and other evidence regarding alleged crimes committed during the civil war”: here.

Sri Lanka’s Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is desperately seeking the support of US President-elect Donald Trump to cover up Colombo’s war crimes and prop up its continued rule: here.