Tamil Justice

The Guardian (21/01) – Uncovering Sri Lanka’s war crimes

by Peter Bouckaert

Despite promises to the UN, the Sri Lankan government has yet to investigate the serious crimes of Sri Lanka’s civil war

Despite verbal acrobatics reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, Sri Lankan officials have been unable to dismiss a shocking mobile phone video from last January purportedly showing Sri Lankan soldiers summarily executing naked and bound captives. The government has consistently claimed the video is fake, without providing any evidence that the gruesome scene was staged or the footage tampered with.

Now, the top United Nations envoy responsible for investigating extralegal executions around the world has added his voice to those believing the tape to be genuine. After commissioning three experts on forensic pathology, video analysis and firearms to review the tape, the envoy, Philip Alston, told the BBC, “You cannot fake the precise sort of reaction which the human body makes when shot at close range by such a weapon.”

Of course Sri Lanka’s public relations team went into its usual overdrive, denouncing the “bias” of the UN expert and suggesting that he was on a “personal crusade” to force a war crimes investigation over the allegations. More

Lakbima News - I only wanted a credible, independent investigation – Philip Alston

By Namini Wijedasa

UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston raised a hornet’s nest recently by resurrecting the controversial Channel 4 ‘execution’ video and deeming it to be authentic on the basis of a report produced by three independent experts. The government immediately rejected the findings, accused him of being politically motivated and refused to heed his call for an inquiry. LAKBIMAnEWS interviewed Alston on some of the niggling questions his investigation had raised.

Ln: The government has repeatedly rejected any suggestion that the Channel 4 video is authentic. Why did you initiate an investigation on this?

PA: On the face of it there was nothing to indicate that the video was a fake. It therefore constitutes evidence of serious HR violations if the events depicted were as they were alleged to be. In such circumstances, there is always an obligation for a government and thus a special rapporteur to investigate. More

Channel 4 (08/01) - Sri Lanka video: UN considers violations

by Jonathan Miller

The UN secretary general could set up an expert panel to look into alleged violations by the Sri Lankan army after a report found video, first on Channel 4 News, “appears to be authentic”. Jonathan Miller reports.

Sri Lanka still insists the footage, released by Journalists For Democracy and obtained by Channel 4 News in August 2009, is a fake, and it categorically denies any atrocities against the Tamil minority.

But there are other disturbing videos, some of which are shown in the accompanying report by Channel 4 News foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller.

Read Jonathan Miller’s blog Will Sri Lanka cooperate with the UN’s experts? More

AsiaNews.it (08/01) – The United Nations: “The video of tamil executions is authentic“

by Melani Manel Perera

Philip Alston, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has made a thorough survey to assess the tape aired in England, showing the Sri Lankan army killing the rebels. Colombo: “unfounded allegations, violated diplomacy.”

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, not be intimidated replied: “I’m evaluating the possibility of appointing a commission of experts, to keep me updated and assist the local government to take necessary measures to avoid other violations of international law and humanitarian law in the future”.   During his investigation Alston not only analyzed the video, but requested the help of a pathologist, an expert in images and a war expert. More

Brandon Sun (08/01) - Sri Lanka rejects UN’s conclusions on video purporting to show army’s execution of Tamils

Sri Lanka said Friday that a video purportedly showing its troops killing blindfolded, naked Tamils during the civil war was a fabrication and dismissed as biased a U.N. investigation confirming its apparent authenticity.

Philip Alston, a U.N. human rights investigator, said Thursday the footage was probably real, and called for a war crimes investigation into the final bloody months of the war between the government and ethnic Tamil rebels that ended in May. More

The New York Times (Reuters 08/01) - Sri Lanka Rejects U.N. Execution Video Report

Sri Lanka on Friday rejected the findings of a trio of United Nations-appointed investigators who said they doubted a video showing apparent executions by Sri Lankan soldiers was fake.

The reaction came after Philip Alston, U.N. special reporter on extrajudicial executions, on Thursday urged an independent inquiry after a forensic pathologist, a forensic video analyst and a firearms expert concluded the video was likely real.

Britain’s Channel 4 television aired a video last year that it said shows government troops killing unarmed, naked, bound and blindfolded men during the army’s final assault to smash the Tamil Tiger rebels. More

">Watch Becky Anderson’s interview with UN Special Investigator on the Sri Lankan Government’s war crimes against Tamils.

Reuters (08/01) – Sri Lanka execution video appears authentic – U.N.

Alston, asked about the Sri Lankan inquiry, said he had no information about it. He voiced skepticism about the ability of the Sri Lankan government to conduct a proper probe.

He said the allegations of war crimes committed by both sides should be investigated by a genuinely independent authority such as the United Nations, which has carried out similar inquiries elsewhere, most recently into a massacre in the West African nation Guinea.

Alston, a human rights lawyer who teaches at New York University, said it was not his place to demand specific action by the United Nations. But he said he hoped the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would take the experts’ assessment of the video footage seriously. More

Al Jazeera (07/01) – S Lanka execution video ‘authentic’

A UN envoy has concluded that video footage allegedly showing Sri Lankan troops executing Tamil Tiger fighters last year is authentic and has urged Colombo allow an impartial investigation.

Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the video – aired on Britain’s Channel 4 in August 2009 – was authentic. More

SBS World News Australia (8/01) – Sri Lankan execution video ‘authentic’

Independent experts have ruled video footage appearing to show Sri Lankan troops executing Tamil Tiger rebels is authentic, a UN envoy said

The video, aired on Britain’s Channel 4 last August, “is authentic,” said Philip Halston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Mr Halston said the conclusion was reached by three independent experts and called for a “genuine and independent investigation” by the Sri Lankan government. More

Channel 4 news (08/01) - Sri Lanka video appears ‘authentic‘

An investigation commissioned for the United Nations says that a video broadcast on Channel 4 News showing Sri Lankan soldiers apparently executing naked Tamils ‘appears to be authentic’. Jonathan Miller reports.

The video, which contains extremely disturbing images, was obtained by the group Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka and it was shown on 25 August.

It provoked an angry reaction from Sri Lankan army spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, who said the footage was a fabrication designed to discredit security forces. More

BBC (08/01) – Sri Lanka exeuction video authentic – UN envoy

Video apparently showing extra-judicial killings by Sri Lankan troops is genuine, a UN envoy has said.

UN special rapporteur Philip Alston said three independent experts had confirmed the video was authentic, renewing calls for a war crime inquiry.

The footage – which Sri Lanka says is fabricated – shows a man dressed as a soldier shooting a man in the head. More

Reuters – Sri Lanka rejects UN execution video report

by Ranga Srilal

Sri Lanka on Friday rejected as inconsistent the findings of a trio of U.N.-appointed investigators who said they doubted a video showing apparent executions by Sri Lankan soldiers was a fake.

The reaction came after Philip Alston, U.N. special reporter on extrajudicial executions, on Thursday urged an independent probe after a forensic pathologist, a forensic video analyst and a firearms expert concluded the video was likely real.

Britain’s Channel 4 television aired a video last year that it said shows government troops killing unarmed, naked, bound and blindfolded men during the army’s final assault to smash the Tamil Tiger rebels. More