Sri Lanka's Killing Fields
Encyclopedia
Sri Lanka's Killing Fields was an investigatory documentary about the final weeks of the Sri Lankan Civil War
broadcast by the British TV station Channel 4
on 14 June 2011. Described as one of the most graphic documentaries in British TV history, the documentary featured amateur video from the conflict zone filmed by civilians and Sri Lankan soldiers which depicted "horrific war crimes". The video filmed by civilians included harrowing scenes during and after intense shelling of civilian targets, including hospitals, by the Sri Lankan military. The "trophy video" filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers showed disturbing scenes of blindfolded victims being executed and dead bodies of naked women being dragged onto trucks by soldiers as they made lewd remarks about the victims. The documentary also included interviews with civilians who managed to survive the conflict, United Nations
staff based in Sri Lanka during the conflict, human rights organisations and and international law expert. The documentary was made by ITN Productions and presented by Jon Snow
, the main anchor on Channel 4 News
. The Sri Lankan government has denounced the documentary as a fake.
In November 2011, Channel 4 announced that it had commissioned a follow-up film Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished from ITN Productions with new evidence concerning the final days of the conflict.
(LTTE). British broadcaster Channel 4 was one of a number of foreign media organisations who publicised this evidence. In August 2009 Channel 4 News broadcast video showing naked and blindfolded victims being executed by Sri Lankan soldiers. The Sri Lankan government denounced the video as fake but forensic analysis by independent experts and the United Nations have confirmed that the video is genuine. In November 2010 Channel 4 News broadcast additional video of the same incident.
in Geneva
. Channel 4 broadcast the documentary to UK audiences on 14 June 2011 at 11.05pm. The documentary was watched by an estimated 700,000 to 1 million viewers and drew a lot of international publicity. In an unusual move Channel 4 waived its international copyright, allowing viewers from outside the UK to view the documentary on its on-demand service and via YouTube.
's Four Corners programme. It was repeated on 5 July 2011 at 11.35pm ABC1 and on 9 July 2011 at 8.00pm on ABC News 24
.
The documentary was broadcast in India on 8 July 2011 at 8.00pm on Headlines Today
. It was repeated on 9 July 2011 at 10.00pm.
The documentary was broadcast in Norway on 27 September 2011 at 10.30pm on NRK2
.
, Human Rights Watch
, International Crisis Group
, Open Society Foundations and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
jointly screened the documentary at the Congressional Auditorium
, Washington, D.C.
on 15 July 2011 to an audience of senators, congressmen, officials and diplomats.
Three cross-party New Zealand MPs (Jackie Blue
, Keith Locke
and Maryan Street
) jointly screened the documentary at the Beehive Theatrette in Wellington
on 16 August 2011 to an audience of parliamentarians and political activists.
Human Rights Watch and three cross-party Canadian MPs (Patrick Brown
, John McKay
and Rathika Sitsabaiesan) jointly screened the documentary at the La Promenade Building
, Ottawa
on 28 September 2011.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group jointly screened the documentary at the European Parliament
, Brussels
on 12 October 2011.
; Gordon Weiss, the UN's official spokesman in Sri Lanka during the final stages of the civil war; William Schabas
, international human rights lawyer and academic; Vany Kumar, a British Tamil who had been trapped in the conflict zone; Steve Crawshaw of Amnesty International
; a number of civilians who had been trapped in the conflict zone; and Sinhalese critics of the government.
According to Dix from September 2008 there were a number of air raids (by the Sri Lankan Air Force
) each day on Kilinochchi, often at night. The Sri Lankan government told the UN that they could no longer guarantee their safety - they must leave Kilinochchi and other Tamil Tiger held areas. According to Gordon Weiss the Sri Lankan government regarded the UN as an "impediment" to their defeat of the Tamil Tigers. By removing the aid agencies from the Tamil Tiger areas there were no longer any international witnesses to the Sri Lankan military's actions, charged Weiss. When the UN announced it was evacuating all its staff from Kilinochchi, hundreds of local civilians, fearing an all out onslaught on the town by the Sri Lankan military, went to the UN office on 15 September 2008 and pleaded with the UN staff not to leave. Dix filmed the scene on his camcorder: "They were pleading with us...'please don't leave'...There was one girl..she wasn't shouting and she wasn't chanting, she was just still but she had real sadness in her face...Her face just really captured this 'have compassion...stay and watch'". A Hindu priest pleaded with Dix stay, not to provide food and shelter but to be witnesses: "We are begging you to stay and witness our suffering. If we allow you to leave the truth is that everyone here will die. The knife is at our throat." The UN, accepting the Sri Lankan governments warning and ignoring the pleas of the local civilians, left Kilinochchi. "It was their greatest hour of need. They had an army sitting on the doorstep...and we drove out. That was ...a real sense of abandonment of these people" stated Dix. Weiss believes the UN's decision to leave Kilinochchi to be a mistake. The removal of the UN staff from Kilinochchi left virtually no international witnesses in the area. After the UN had withdrawn, the Sri Lankan military launched a massive offensive into the Tamil Tiger held areas and captured Kilinochchi in January 2009. Hundreds of thousands of civilians fled the onslaught. Over the following four months they were trapped in an ever decreasing area and constantly bombed by the Sri Lankan military. Tens of thousands died as result of deliberate Sri Lankan military fire. The harrowing ordeal suffered by the civilians was filmed.
International human rights lawyer and academic William Schabas
believes that mass executions of prisoners was possible evidence of systematic abuse and this could therefore implicate Sri Lanka's political and military leadership in the war crimes of summary executions, killing and torture.
The documentary featured an interview with a Sinhalese critic of the government who claimed to have a collection of photographs of summary executions and killings of surrendees. He claimed the photos were taken by a high ranking army officer on his personal camera. In one photo there are dozens of dead bodies laid out in rows, many of whom appeared to have been executed. Soldiers are standing around the bodies, some taking video clips using mobile phones. Other photos show the dead, naked bodies of B. Nadesan and S. Pulidevan, two Tamil Tiger leaders who had tried to surrender. Numerous other photos were shown and all the photos were analysed by a forensic pathologist. The pathologist found that "there is very high incidence of lethal gunshot wounds to the head raising the strong suspicion of executions at the time of surrender with aimed head shots to stationary, highly visible targets" and that there is "compelling evidence of systematic executions and likely sexual assault of female prisoners prior to execution".
One of the video clips shows the hospital at Puthukkudiyiruppu
with government shells firing in the background. Patients are seen lying on the floor with debris all around them. A woman patient laments "I was wounded so I came to hospital, and the situation in hospital is like this". Another woman cries "My legs have been wounded in the shelling. I can't move. I can't get up". The shelling intensified and eventually the doctors were forced to abandon the hospital.
A number of video clips are shown of civilian camps being shelled and the ensuing terror. In one clip civilians are seen sheltering in a shallow bunker as the area is bombed. "Don't take the video" a distraught woman in the bunker pleads with the cameraman "Please get in the bunker. What are you going to do with the video? They are killing everyone. Please God save all of these children. Can you hear us?"
In the first clip armed, which was originally broadcast on Channel 4 News on 25 August 2009, soldiers are seen abusing naked, blindfolded men (believed to be Tamil Tiger prisoners) with hands tied behind their backs. "Straighten up. Fuck you!" a soldier shouts as he kicks one of the naked men on his back. Another soldier then shoots the naked man in the head, killing him. "It's like he saw. He looked, then he looked away" a soldier is heard saying in the background. All the soldiers are speaking in Sinhala. Another shot is heard in the background as the cameraman pans around to show other dead naked bodies, all with blindfolds and hands tied behind their backs. A live naked naked, blindfolded man with his hands tied behind his back is brought to the area by a soldier and sat down on the ground. The soldier takes a few steps back before shooting the naked man in the head, killing him. "Shoot! Shoot! I've shot as well. Shoot!", a soldier is heard shouting in the background as more shots are heard in the background. "These are our state property. Let's shoot!" the soldier laughs. Another soldier is shown shooting a prisoner. This video was authenticated by the UN but the Sri Lankan government maintains its a fake.
In the second clip two men and a woman in civilian clothes but believed to be Tamil Tiger prisoners are shown blindfolded, hands tied behind their backs and sitting on the ground. They are surrounded by soldiers. One of the soldiers is heard egging another soldier (in Sinhala) to shoot the three prisoners. "Is there no one with the balls to kill a terrorist?" he asks. "Of course there is. Shut up!" answers another soldier. "Come here. What's the matter with you?" asks one of the soldier to another. "Hey cunt! Don't be a wimp" shouts a soldier. The commanding officer issues orders: "Shoot on my command. Up! Take aim! This bugger has a weapon and still seems scared of a terrorist. Aim directly at the head. OK..ready? Up!" All three prisoners are shot in the head. According to the documentary this clip has been analysed by experts who say it shows no sign of manipulation and appears to show genuine executions. The clip was taken on 15 May 2009.
In one clip a half naked prisoner is shown tied to a coconut tree with blood over his chest and neck. The documentary then showed photos of the same incident which show the prisoner alive, then threatened with a knife and then dead, draped in the Tamil Tiger flag. According to legal expert William Schabas this scene is strong circumstantial evidence of war crime and torture.
In another clip soldiers are shown clearing away dead naked bodies. "Mother fucking Tiger wankers!" shouts a soldier. "Hey...pose with the bodies" he continues.
In another clip soldiers are shown dragging and dumping dead naked bodies of women, many of which appear to have been abused, onto the back of a truck. One of the soldiers is heard saying "She is moaning now". "Moaning in your head?" asks another soldier, "Still moaning?". "This one has the best figure" says one of the soldiers of one of the dead woman.
In another clip soldiers are seen standing around dead bodies. One soldier kicks the head of a body. One of the bodies is a naked woman. "She looks like someone who's newly joined. She looks like someone's clerk. Look how many pencils and pens she's got. I really want to cut her tits off...if no one was around" says a soldier.
On 18 May 2011 the Sri Lankan government announced that senior Tamil Tiger commander Colonel Ramesh had died. But video clips taken by soldiers showed Ramesh alive and in captivity. A photo then shows dead body of Ramesh with wounds and blood on his head. The body has been identified by Ramesh's wife. This suggests that Ramesh was killed after being captured.
. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of the country's President
Mahinda Rajapaksa
, accused LTTE supporters of bribing Channel 4 to broadcast the documentary, stating "pro-LTTE elements have used the Channel 4 news agency after giving money to them [Channel 4] in order to tarnish the image of both the Sri Lankan government as well as the army".
In a lecture at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo
on 24 July 2011 former President of Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratunga
described her UK-living children's reaction to the documentary: "I shall remember till the end of my days the morning when my 28 year-old son called me, sobbing on the phone to say how ashamed he was to call himself as Sinhalese and a Lankan, after he saw on the UK television a 50 minute documentary called Killing Fields of Sri Lanka. My daughter followed suit, saying similar things and expressing shock and horror that our countrymen could indulge in such horrific acts."
- Asked to comment on the documentary, the official spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs
stated on 15 July 2011 "Our focus is on the welfare and the well being of the Tamil speaking minorities of Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka...The sequence of events during the last days of the conflict is unclear. The Government of Sri Lanka would need to go into the matter in greater detail. The concerns that are being expressed in this regard need to be examined”.
- Congressman Jim McGovern
, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, described the contents of the documentary as "a gruesome example of humans at their worst". He went on to say "These scenes provide much more than simply shock value, however: They also are powerful evidence of the need for an independent investigation to hold those responsible accountable for the crimes...If the Sri Lankan government is unable or unwilling to act, then the international community must respond in its place".
- British Foreign Office Minister
Alistair Burt
issued a statement on 15 June 2011 in which he expressed shock at horrific scenes in the documentary. Burt stated that the documentary, along with other evidence, constituted "convincing evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law" and urged the Sri Lankan government "to give a serious and full response".
- Australian Foreign Minister
Kevin Rudd
stated that "No-one watching this program could emerge from that undisturbed and we don't either". He called on the United Nations Human Rights Council
to re-investigate alleged war crimes and examine whether the UNHRC's original findings [resolution A/HRC/S-11/L.1/Rev.2 passed on 27 May 2009] "can any longer be regarded as well founded". The Australian Senate
passed motion number 323 on 7 July 2011 which, amongst other things, noted that the documentary was "further shocking evidence supporting allegations of war crimes committed during the 2009 civil conflict in Sri Lanka" and called for "allegations of war crimes...to be investigated and verified".
received 171 complaints about the documentary. The majority of the complaints were that the documentary was misrepresentative and misleading rather than that the contents of the documentary were fake as suggested by the Sri Lankan government. The levels of complaints automatically triggered a formal investigation by Ofcom (Ofcom had received 13 complaints up to 13 June 2011 which were all rejected as the documentary hadn't been broadcast yet). In October Ofcom dismissed all complaints. Dismissing the complaints of impartiality, offensiveness and misleading material, Ofcom concluded that "overall Channel 4 preserved due impartiality in its examination of the Sri Lankan Government's actions", "the audience was not materially misled" and that "the images included in this programme, whilst brutal and shocking, would not have exceeded the expectations of the audience for this Channel 4 documentary scheduled well after the watershed with very clear warnings about the nature of the content".
On 1 July 2011 Swarnavahini
, a privately owned Sri Lankan TV station, broadcast on their Live at 8 programme what they claimed to be an unaltered version of a video used on the Channel 4 documentary showing unformed men summarily executing eight bound and blindfolded men. In the version broadcast by Swarnavahini the men in unform were speaking in Tamil
whereas on the Channel 4 documentary they were speaking in Sinhala. This Tamil version was in fact not new - it had appeared on YouTube shortly after Channel 4 News
had originally broadcast the Sinhala version on 25 August 2009. An investigation by a UN commissioned panel of independent experts found that the Sinhala version was authentic.
Kandanam Jegadishwaram (Nandavanam Jagatheeswaram), a British national of Tamil origin, was arrested on 4 July 2011 for allegedly supplying Channel 4 with video which was used in the documentary. The police
alleged that 71 CDs were found at Jegadishwaram's residence in Kandy
. Jegadishwaram was brought before Colombo Magistrate’s Court on 8 July 2011 where the Criminal Investigation Department
accused him of causing "disrepute to the country and the army by providing alleged videos to the Channel 4 television". The magistrate allowed the CID to detain and interrogate Jegadishwaram until 2 August 2011. The magistrate released Jegadishwaram on 2 August 2011 after it was revealed that he was not involved and that no suspicious material or evidence was found.
In August 2011 Indian TV channel Headlines Today
broadcast a two-part documentary titled Inside Sri Lanka's Killing Fields. The first part was broadcast on 9 August 2011 on the channel's Ground Zero programme and subtitled I Witnessed Genocide. The second part was broadcast on 10 August 2011 on the channel's Centre Stage programme and subtitled Lankan Army killed 40,000 Tamils. The documentary makers travelled to Vanni
and interviewed witnesses to the last stages of the civil war who described "serious violations of international conventions and laws on the prevention of war crimes".
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on July 23, 1983, there was an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state named Tamil...
broadcast by the British TV station Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
on 14 June 2011. Described as one of the most graphic documentaries in British TV history, the documentary featured amateur video from the conflict zone filmed by civilians and Sri Lankan soldiers which depicted "horrific war crimes". The video filmed by civilians included harrowing scenes during and after intense shelling of civilian targets, including hospitals, by the Sri Lankan military. The "trophy video" filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers showed disturbing scenes of blindfolded victims being executed and dead bodies of naked women being dragged onto trucks by soldiers as they made lewd remarks about the victims. The documentary also included interviews with civilians who managed to survive the conflict, United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
staff based in Sri Lanka during the conflict, human rights organisations and and international law expert. The documentary was made by ITN Productions and presented by Jon Snow
Jon Snow
Jon Snow is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.-Early life:...
, the main anchor on Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
. The Sri Lankan government has denounced the documentary as a fake.
In November 2011, Channel 4 announced that it had commissioned a follow-up film Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished from ITN Productions with new evidence concerning the final days of the conflict.
Background
During the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009 and after its end in May 2009 evidence in the form of video, photographs etc started emerging showing what appeared to gross violations of international and humanitarian law by both the Sri Lankan military and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil EelamLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...
(LTTE). British broadcaster Channel 4 was one of a number of foreign media organisations who publicised this evidence. In August 2009 Channel 4 News broadcast video showing naked and blindfolded victims being executed by Sri Lankan soldiers. The Sri Lankan government denounced the video as fake but forensic analysis by independent experts and the United Nations have confirmed that the video is genuine. In November 2010 Channel 4 News broadcast additional video of the same incident.
Broadcast details
On 3 June 2011 Channel 4 premièred a special hour long investigation into the final weeks of the civil war titled Sri Lanka's Killing Fields at the 17th session of the United Nations Human Rights CouncilUnited Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. Channel 4 broadcast the documentary to UK audiences on 14 June 2011 at 11.05pm. The documentary was watched by an estimated 700,000 to 1 million viewers and drew a lot of international publicity. In an unusual move Channel 4 waived its international copyright, allowing viewers from outside the UK to view the documentary on its on-demand service and via YouTube.
International broadcasts
The documentary was broadcast in Australia on 4 July 2011 at 8.30pm on ABC1ABC1
ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on...
's Four Corners programme. It was repeated on 5 July 2011 at 11.35pm ABC1 and on 9 July 2011 at 8.00pm on ABC News 24
ABC News 24
ABC News 24 is an Australian 24-hour news channel launched and owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The channel replaced the former ABC High Definition simulcast of ABC1 and commenced broadcasting at 7:30pm 5:30 on Thursday, 22 July 2010.-Pre-launch:The ABC announced in January 2010...
.
The documentary was broadcast in India on 8 July 2011 at 8.00pm on Headlines Today
Headlines Today
Headlines Today is a popular 24-hour English language television network that carries news, current affairs and business programming in India, the channel is sponsored by TV Today Network Ltd. which is a part of the well-known India Today Group...
. It was repeated on 9 July 2011 at 10.00pm.
The documentary was broadcast in Norway on 27 September 2011 at 10.30pm on NRK2
NRK2
NRK2 is one of the TV channels of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation . It was launched in 1996. It has traditionally concentrated on more on cultural and in-depth programmes than its mother channel NRK1 and has also shown drama series, comedies, and news. When not broadcasting regular...
.
Special screenings
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, International Crisis Group
International Crisis Group
The International Crisis Group is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world through field-based analyses and high-level advocacy.-History:...
, Open Society Foundations and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission is a bipartisan caucus of the United States House of Representatives...
jointly screened the documentary at the Congressional Auditorium
United States Capitol Visitor Center
The United States Capitol Visitor Center is a large underground addition to the United States Capitol complex which serves as a gathering point for up to 4,000 tourists and an expansion space for the US Congress. It is located below the East Front of the Capitol and its plaza, between the Capitol...
, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on 15 July 2011 to an audience of senators, congressmen, officials and diplomats.
Three cross-party New Zealand MPs (Jackie Blue
Jackie Blue
Dr Jackie Blue MP is a New Zealand politician and member of Parliament for the National Party.-Personal life:Blue was born in 1956. She attended Selwyn College in Auckland, and then went on to gain a BSc from the University of Auckland in 1976 and MB ChB from Auckland Medical School in 1983...
, Keith Locke
Keith Locke
Keith James Locke is a current New Zealand MP representing the Green Party who was first elected to parliament in 1999. he is the Green Party spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Defence, Ethnic Affairs, Pacific Affairs, Human Rights, Immigration, Police and Auckland Transport...
and Maryan Street
Maryan Street
Maryan Street is a Member of the New Zealand Parliament for the New Zealand Labour Party. In the 2005 elections, she became the first openly lesbian woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament.-Early years:...
) jointly screened the documentary at the Beehive Theatrette in Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
on 16 August 2011 to an audience of parliamentarians and political activists.
Human Rights Watch and three cross-party Canadian MPs (Patrick Brown
Patrick Brown (politician)
Patrick W. Brown is a Canadian lawyer and politician affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada. In 2006, Brown was elected to serve in the Canadian parliament representing the riding of Barrie...
, John McKay
John McKay (politician)
John Norman McKay, PC, MP is a lawyer and a Canadian politician. He is the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Scarborough—Guildwood. McKay was formerly the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance while the Liberal party governed, but now serves as an opposition MP...
and Rathika Sitsabaiesan) jointly screened the documentary at the La Promenade Building
La Promenade Building
La Promenade Building is an office building in Ottawa owned by the Canadian department of Public Works and Government Services. Built in 1972, the 12-storey building is located at 151 Sparks Street and was previous the offices of House of Commons, Parliamentary Precinct Services, and Library of...
, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
on 28 September 2011.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group jointly screened the documentary at the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
on 12 October 2011.
Interviews
The documentary featured interviews with Benjamin Dix, a British UN worker based in KilinochchiKilinochchi
Kilinochchi is a city in the Kilinochchi District, part of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Kilinochchi is situated at the A9 road some south-east of Jaffna...
; Gordon Weiss, the UN's official spokesman in Sri Lanka during the final stages of the civil war; William Schabas
William Schabas
William Schabas is an author and academic in the field of international criminal and human rights law. He is a professor of international law and Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and an internationally respected expert on human rights law,...
, international human rights lawyer and academic; Vany Kumar, a British Tamil who had been trapped in the conflict zone; Steve Crawshaw of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
; a number of civilians who had been trapped in the conflict zone; and Sinhalese critics of the government.
According to Dix from September 2008 there were a number of air raids (by the Sri Lankan Air Force
Sri Lankan Air Force
The Sri Lanka Air Force is the air arm and the youngest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. It was founded in 1951 as the Royal Ceylon Air Force with the assistance of the Royal Air Force . The SLAF played a major role throughout the Sri Lankan Civil War...
) each day on Kilinochchi, often at night. The Sri Lankan government told the UN that they could no longer guarantee their safety - they must leave Kilinochchi and other Tamil Tiger held areas. According to Gordon Weiss the Sri Lankan government regarded the UN as an "impediment" to their defeat of the Tamil Tigers. By removing the aid agencies from the Tamil Tiger areas there were no longer any international witnesses to the Sri Lankan military's actions, charged Weiss. When the UN announced it was evacuating all its staff from Kilinochchi, hundreds of local civilians, fearing an all out onslaught on the town by the Sri Lankan military, went to the UN office on 15 September 2008 and pleaded with the UN staff not to leave. Dix filmed the scene on his camcorder: "They were pleading with us...'please don't leave'...There was one girl..she wasn't shouting and she wasn't chanting, she was just still but she had real sadness in her face...Her face just really captured this 'have compassion...stay and watch'". A Hindu priest pleaded with Dix stay, not to provide food and shelter but to be witnesses: "We are begging you to stay and witness our suffering. If we allow you to leave the truth is that everyone here will die. The knife is at our throat." The UN, accepting the Sri Lankan governments warning and ignoring the pleas of the local civilians, left Kilinochchi. "It was their greatest hour of need. They had an army sitting on the doorstep...and we drove out. That was ...a real sense of abandonment of these people" stated Dix. Weiss believes the UN's decision to leave Kilinochchi to be a mistake. The removal of the UN staff from Kilinochchi left virtually no international witnesses in the area. After the UN had withdrawn, the Sri Lankan military launched a massive offensive into the Tamil Tiger held areas and captured Kilinochchi in January 2009. Hundreds of thousands of civilians fled the onslaught. Over the following four months they were trapped in an ever decreasing area and constantly bombed by the Sri Lankan military. Tens of thousands died as result of deliberate Sri Lankan military fire. The harrowing ordeal suffered by the civilians was filmed.
International human rights lawyer and academic William Schabas
William Schabas
William Schabas is an author and academic in the field of international criminal and human rights law. He is a professor of international law and Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and an internationally respected expert on human rights law,...
believes that mass executions of prisoners was possible evidence of systematic abuse and this could therefore implicate Sri Lanka's political and military leadership in the war crimes of summary executions, killing and torture.
The documentary featured an interview with a Sinhalese critic of the government who claimed to have a collection of photographs of summary executions and killings of surrendees. He claimed the photos were taken by a high ranking army officer on his personal camera. In one photo there are dozens of dead bodies laid out in rows, many of whom appeared to have been executed. Soldiers are standing around the bodies, some taking video clips using mobile phones. Other photos show the dead, naked bodies of B. Nadesan and S. Pulidevan, two Tamil Tiger leaders who had tried to surrender. Numerous other photos were shown and all the photos were analysed by a forensic pathologist. The pathologist found that "there is very high incidence of lethal gunshot wounds to the head raising the strong suspicion of executions at the time of surrender with aimed head shots to stationary, highly visible targets" and that there is "compelling evidence of systematic executions and likely sexual assault of female prisoners prior to execution".
Civilian video
The documentary showed numerous clips from the conflict zone showing the harrowing ordeal endured by civilians.One of the video clips shows the hospital at Puthukkudiyiruppu
Puthukkudiyiruppu (Mullaitivu)
Puthukkudiyiruppu is a small town in the Mullaitivu District of Sri Lanka.There are four main roads which lead to Mullaithivu in the east, Paranthan towards west, Iranaipalai towards north and Oddusuddan towards south...
with government shells firing in the background. Patients are seen lying on the floor with debris all around them. A woman patient laments "I was wounded so I came to hospital, and the situation in hospital is like this". Another woman cries "My legs have been wounded in the shelling. I can't move. I can't get up". The shelling intensified and eventually the doctors were forced to abandon the hospital.
A number of video clips are shown of civilian camps being shelled and the ensuing terror. In one clip civilians are seen sheltering in a shallow bunker as the area is bombed. "Don't take the video" a distraught woman in the bunker pleads with the cameraman "Please get in the bunker. What are you going to do with the video? They are killing everyone. Please God save all of these children. Can you hear us?"
Soldiers' video
The documentary showed a number of video clips filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers on mobile phones, most of which were previously unaired.In the first clip armed, which was originally broadcast on Channel 4 News on 25 August 2009, soldiers are seen abusing naked, blindfolded men (believed to be Tamil Tiger prisoners) with hands tied behind their backs. "Straighten up. Fuck you!" a soldier shouts as he kicks one of the naked men on his back. Another soldier then shoots the naked man in the head, killing him. "It's like he saw. He looked, then he looked away" a soldier is heard saying in the background. All the soldiers are speaking in Sinhala. Another shot is heard in the background as the cameraman pans around to show other dead naked bodies, all with blindfolds and hands tied behind their backs. A live naked naked, blindfolded man with his hands tied behind his back is brought to the area by a soldier and sat down on the ground. The soldier takes a few steps back before shooting the naked man in the head, killing him. "Shoot! Shoot! I've shot as well. Shoot!", a soldier is heard shouting in the background as more shots are heard in the background. "These are our state property. Let's shoot!" the soldier laughs. Another soldier is shown shooting a prisoner. This video was authenticated by the UN but the Sri Lankan government maintains its a fake.
In the second clip two men and a woman in civilian clothes but believed to be Tamil Tiger prisoners are shown blindfolded, hands tied behind their backs and sitting on the ground. They are surrounded by soldiers. One of the soldiers is heard egging another soldier (in Sinhala) to shoot the three prisoners. "Is there no one with the balls to kill a terrorist?" he asks. "Of course there is. Shut up!" answers another soldier. "Come here. What's the matter with you?" asks one of the soldier to another. "Hey cunt! Don't be a wimp" shouts a soldier. The commanding officer issues orders: "Shoot on my command. Up! Take aim! This bugger has a weapon and still seems scared of a terrorist. Aim directly at the head. OK..ready? Up!" All three prisoners are shot in the head. According to the documentary this clip has been analysed by experts who say it shows no sign of manipulation and appears to show genuine executions. The clip was taken on 15 May 2009.
In one clip a half naked prisoner is shown tied to a coconut tree with blood over his chest and neck. The documentary then showed photos of the same incident which show the prisoner alive, then threatened with a knife and then dead, draped in the Tamil Tiger flag. According to legal expert William Schabas this scene is strong circumstantial evidence of war crime and torture.
In another clip soldiers are shown clearing away dead naked bodies. "Mother fucking Tiger wankers!" shouts a soldier. "Hey...pose with the bodies" he continues.
In another clip soldiers are shown dragging and dumping dead naked bodies of women, many of which appear to have been abused, onto the back of a truck. One of the soldiers is heard saying "She is moaning now". "Moaning in your head?" asks another soldier, "Still moaning?". "This one has the best figure" says one of the soldiers of one of the dead woman.
In another clip soldiers are seen standing around dead bodies. One soldier kicks the head of a body. One of the bodies is a naked woman. "She looks like someone who's newly joined. She looks like someone's clerk. Look how many pencils and pens she's got. I really want to cut her tits off...if no one was around" says a soldier.
On 18 May 2011 the Sri Lankan government announced that senior Tamil Tiger commander Colonel Ramesh had died. But video clips taken by soldiers showed Ramesh alive and in captivity. A photo then shows dead body of Ramesh with wounds and blood on his head. The body has been identified by Ramesh's wife. This suggests that Ramesh was killed after being captured.
Reaction
- The Sri Lankan government denounced the documentary as a fake and the work of the LTTE supporting Sri Lankan Tamil diasporaSri Lankan Tamil diaspora
The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora refers to the global diaspora of the people of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. It can be said to be a subset of the larger Sri Lankan as well as Tamil diaspora....
. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of the country's President
President of Sri Lanka
The President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the head of government. The President is a dominant political figure in Sri Lanka. The office was created in 1978 but has grown so powerful there have been calls to restrict or even eliminate its power...
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Percy Mahendra "Mahinda" Rajapaksa ; ; born November 18, 1945) is the 6th and current President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. A lawyer by profession, Rajapaksa was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1970, and served as prime minister from April 6,...
, accused LTTE supporters of bribing Channel 4 to broadcast the documentary, stating "pro-LTTE elements have used the Channel 4 news agency after giving money to them [Channel 4] in order to tarnish the image of both the Sri Lankan government as well as the army".
In a lecture at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
on 24 July 2011 former President of Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratunga
Chandrika Kumaratunga
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga born June 29, 1945) was the 4th Executive president of Sri Lanka, serving from November 12, 1994 to November 19, 2005. The daughter of two former Prime Ministers, she was also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party until end of 2005...
described her UK-living children's reaction to the documentary: "I shall remember till the end of my days the morning when my 28 year-old son called me, sobbing on the phone to say how ashamed he was to call himself as Sinhalese and a Lankan, after he saw on the UK television a 50 minute documentary called Killing Fields of Sri Lanka. My daughter followed suit, saying similar things and expressing shock and horror that our countrymen could indulge in such horrific acts."
- Asked to comment on the documentary, the official spokesman for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs
Ministry of External Affairs (India)
The Ministry of External Affairs is the foreign ministry of India. It is the Indian government agency responsible for the foreign relations of India. The Minister of External Affairs holds cabinet rank as a member of the Council of Ministers. The current minister is S M Krishna...
stated on 15 July 2011 "Our focus is on the welfare and the well being of the Tamil speaking minorities of Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka...The sequence of events during the last days of the conflict is unclear. The Government of Sri Lanka would need to go into the matter in greater detail. The concerns that are being expressed in this regard need to be examined”.
- Congressman Jim McGovern
Jim McGovern
James Patrick "Jim" McGovern is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, described the contents of the documentary as "a gruesome example of humans at their worst". He went on to say "These scenes provide much more than simply shock value, however: They also are powerful evidence of the need for an independent investigation to hold those responsible accountable for the crimes...If the Sri Lankan government is unable or unwilling to act, then the international community must respond in its place".
- British Foreign Office Minister
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
|The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been a junior position in the British government since 1782, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs...
Alistair Burt
Alistair Burt
Alistair James Hendrie Burt is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Bedfordshire...
issued a statement on 15 June 2011 in which he expressed shock at horrific scenes in the documentary. Burt stated that the documentary, along with other evidence, constituted "convincing evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law" and urged the Sri Lankan government "to give a serious and full response".
- Australian Foreign Minister
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia)
In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
stated that "No-one watching this program could emerge from that undisturbed and we don't either". He called on the United Nations Human Rights Council
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
to re-investigate alleged war crimes and examine whether the UNHRC's original findings [resolution A/HRC/S-11/L.1/Rev.2 passed on 27 May 2009] "can any longer be regarded as well founded". The Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
passed motion number 323 on 7 July 2011 which, amongst other things, noted that the documentary was "further shocking evidence supporting allegations of war crimes committed during the 2009 civil conflict in Sri Lanka" and called for "allegations of war crimes...to be investigated and verified".
Aftermath
Between 14 June 2011 and 4 July 2011 the British TV regulator OfcomOfcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
received 171 complaints about the documentary. The majority of the complaints were that the documentary was misrepresentative and misleading rather than that the contents of the documentary were fake as suggested by the Sri Lankan government. The levels of complaints automatically triggered a formal investigation by Ofcom (Ofcom had received 13 complaints up to 13 June 2011 which were all rejected as the documentary hadn't been broadcast yet). In October Ofcom dismissed all complaints. Dismissing the complaints of impartiality, offensiveness and misleading material, Ofcom concluded that "overall Channel 4 preserved due impartiality in its examination of the Sri Lankan Government's actions", "the audience was not materially misled" and that "the images included in this programme, whilst brutal and shocking, would not have exceeded the expectations of the audience for this Channel 4 documentary scheduled well after the watershed with very clear warnings about the nature of the content".
On 1 July 2011 Swarnavahini
Swarnavahini
Swarnavahini, which means "Golden Channel" in Sinhala is a leading Sri Lankan news and entertainment television channel. Its main theme is "Sri Lankeeya Abhimanaya" which means "Sri Lankan Pride." It was launched on the 16th of March 1997, alongside its sister channel ETV, which mainly broadcasts...
, a privately owned Sri Lankan TV station, broadcast on their Live at 8 programme what they claimed to be an unaltered version of a video used on the Channel 4 documentary showing unformed men summarily executing eight bound and blindfolded men. In the version broadcast by Swarnavahini the men in unform were speaking in Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
whereas on the Channel 4 documentary they were speaking in Sinhala. This Tamil version was in fact not new - it had appeared on YouTube shortly after Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
had originally broadcast the Sinhala version on 25 August 2009. An investigation by a UN commissioned panel of independent experts found that the Sinhala version was authentic.
Kandanam Jegadishwaram (Nandavanam Jagatheeswaram), a British national of Tamil origin, was arrested on 4 July 2011 for allegedly supplying Channel 4 with video which was used in the documentary. The police
Sri Lanka Police Service
The Sri Lanka Police Service is the civilian national police force of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The police force has a manpower of approximately 85,000. It is responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the peace...
alleged that 71 CDs were found at Jegadishwaram's residence in Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
. Jegadishwaram was brought before Colombo Magistrate’s Court on 8 July 2011 where the Criminal Investigation Department
Criminal Investigation Department (Sri Lanka)
The Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police Service is responsible for carrying out investigations throughout the island into serious crimes, including murders, rape and organized crime cases of a very serious nature that require special skills and complex detection...
accused him of causing "disrepute to the country and the army by providing alleged videos to the Channel 4 television". The magistrate allowed the CID to detain and interrogate Jegadishwaram until 2 August 2011. The magistrate released Jegadishwaram on 2 August 2011 after it was revealed that he was not involved and that no suspicious material or evidence was found.
In August 2011 Indian TV channel Headlines Today
Headlines Today
Headlines Today is a popular 24-hour English language television network that carries news, current affairs and business programming in India, the channel is sponsored by TV Today Network Ltd. which is a part of the well-known India Today Group...
broadcast a two-part documentary titled Inside Sri Lanka's Killing Fields. The first part was broadcast on 9 August 2011 on the channel's Ground Zero programme and subtitled I Witnessed Genocide. The second part was broadcast on 10 August 2011 on the channel's Centre Stage programme and subtitled Lankan Army killed 40,000 Tamils. The documentary makers travelled to Vanni
Vanni (Sri Lanka)
The Vanni is the name given to the mainland area of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It covers the entirety of Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya Districts, and most of Kilinochchi District. It has an area of approximately 7,650 km2...
and interviewed witnesses to the last stages of the civil war who described "serious violations of international conventions and laws on the prevention of war crimes".
External links
- Sri Lanka's Killing Fields
- Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, Sri Lankan War Crimes Log