Video, leaked memo bedevil Moon's climate visit to Norway

International Development Minister Erik Solheim told Norway's Aftenposten Wednesday that he will discuss the details of the gruesome video showing Sri Lanka soldiers executing naked, bound men, during Ban Ki Moon's Norway visit this week. Meanwhile, the visit occurs while 'The Economist' gave Mr. Moon a failed grade in his UN performance (30%), and a leaked memo by Norway’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Mona Juul, accused Moon for being a "passive observer when thousands lost lives and were driven from their homes [in Sri Lanka]," in her mid term assessment of Ban’s tenure.

Mr. Ban will visit Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean, as part of his official visit to Norway which begins next week.The visit to the Arctic is part of the Secretary-General's ongoing efforts to push for action ahead of the global climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where countries will implement a new greenhouse gas emissions reduction pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, UN Radio said of his visit.

Solheim commenting on the video to the Norway daily said that dozens of people have been killed or have disappeared in Sri Lanka in recent years, without any form of judicial process or verdict. And there is overwhelming evidence that structures within the state apparatus is behind many of these killings, and added that "he will not be surprised if the footage turns out to be genuine."
"United Nations must address in the investigation of possible war crimes in Sri Lanka. It's something I definitely want to do, even if the purpose of his trip is about climate and environment," Solheim told the paper.
Meanwhile, a leaked diplomatic document, stamped ‘strictly confidential,’ on 19th August, Mona Juual is likely to further add diplomatic discomfort to Ban's visit. Juul said in the memo, "the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who was refused admittance by Colombo at the height of the war, chose to accept its invitation as soon as the war was “won."" The diplomat added: "War in Sri Lanka is an example of the weak handling of the Secretary General. He was a passive observer when thousands lost lives and were driven from their homes, the diplomat further said in her mid term assessment of Ban’s tenure."
The Economist gave a paltry 2/10 for Moon's Management skills and a 3/10 for "truth to power," saying his quiet diplomacy has failed to yield tangible results.
"After Sri Lanka’s war ended, Mr Ban denied that the UN had leaked grim civilian casualty figures (indeed, some UN officials reportedly sought to suppress the toll). That obscured his other responses—such as an appeal to aid the Tamil refugees. With Sri Lanka’s government shielded by China, India and others at the Security Council and at the UN Human Rights Commission, human-rights groups had hoped Mr Ban would speak up more for the victims," the Economist cited as one of the reasons for giving Moon a failed grade.

Chauvinism and greed 'naked' in Sri Lanka

It was frightening to see the combined effect of naked chauvinism of Sri Lanka and naked greed of powers, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo responding to the video clip displayed Tuesday. “Such a trend in the establishments is a challenge to every lay human being of the civilized world. While rising up to free people in the internment camps is a spontaneous response, what is of paramount importance is independent political organisation of Tamils in order to meet the challenge of the same forces that are now coercing or enticing them to drop righteous aspirations. Tamils are not asking for other’s land or for empires. They only ask for their own land and there is nothing to get scared or to feel ashamed of. As people of classical heritage, if Tamils fail, they fail not merely their cause but an entire human civilization,” he writes commenting on current Tamil affairs.


Full text of the response from the commentator follows:

The world was shocked to see a video footage Tuesday showing the nakedness of Colombo’s genocide of Tamils. What was seen is only an iota of what has happened and what has been happening for decades in the island. But the snippet clip from the Independent Journalists of Sri Lanka has awakened the civilized world that was by design put to slumber by the so-called international media.
Colombo is only partly responsible for crimes against Tamils.
It is the naked greed of the tzars of so-called international community banking on Sri Lankan state that was essentially responsible for this savage experiment on human civilization.
In the long history of genocide against Tamils in the island, the state always escaped scot-free in the pogroms of 1958, 1977 and 1983. The international community did nothing in the edification of the state. Tamils were always told to compromise.
Confident of its impunity, the state was ‘all naked’ in waging the genocidal war and in incarcerating Tamil people. Equally naked, the international community rationalised and abetted it.
Indian Establishment the most active partner of Colombo, China, Russia, Pakistan, and a host of others demonstrated this in a crude way in the UN human rights council. But Tamils are more worried of the sophisticated ways of the West.
India in an intimidating way and the West in an enticing way tries to do the same thing. After military abetment, now strengthening Sri Lankan state diplomatically and economically, they want the victims to reconcile, not to call ‘genocide a genocide’ and want Tamils to forget their aspiration of achieving permanent security by having their own nation state.
India and the West are also competing subtly in capturing and blunting the democratic political moves of Tamils to suit their interests. The former is active in the island and the latter in the diaspora. The main agenda, either by coercion or enticement, is to make Eezham Tamils to drop their nationalism.
They do this with full knowledge that in the context of the deep divide in the island, nothing less than the recognition of two nations only could sort out the matter.
The Australian foreign minister was very open last week.
In view of the long ‘trade relations’ of Australia with Sri Lanka and as a fellow island nation in the ‘region,’ his government is interested in seeing a united Sri Lanka and is reluctant to call for freeing the incarcerated Tamils, despite the fact that all its earlier calls for restraint were not cared by Sri Lanka.
Australia didn’t consider Indonesia as an island nation in the region when it stood for the independence of East Timor.
What implied by the Australian foreign minister is that Tamils have to accept genocide and subjugation for the sake of the economic and geopolitical interests of powers. He leaves Tamils with no choice.
Such an open show of greed by the establishments today is a challenge to the entire civilised world. Ultimately it is a war against every person of lay humanity.
Agitations to attract attention on the plight of Eezham Tamils are planned by diaspora groups in different parts of the world. Attracting the attention of whom? Not that the establishments that caused it don’t know it.
Tamils have to draw the attention of the alternative world, including alternative sections of the Sinhala nation and mobilize them against the common danger all are facing.
Of course, the issue of people in the internment camps is of grave concern and there could be no second word that all have to rise up for their freedom.
But one has to carefully note that governments that allowed genocide, incarceration and the crushing of Tamil safe guards, and the international media that silently sabotaged the Tamil cause, are now showing interest in the IDP issue only because it is essential for the Multinational Corporations (MNCs) to establish themselves in the island. At the same time, all of them meticulously continue nullifying the Tamil national question.There is no need to elaborate that their operations in collaboration with the Sri Lankan state, while keeping Tamils deprived of sovereignty to decide about their homeland, portend only danger.
The idea is to capture everything of Tamils including their spirit so that the question of political solution or handing over the land to the rightful owners doesn’t arise and the greedy ones could have their ways, making people as ‘work force’.
Therefore, what is of paramount importance is Tamils demonstrating their political will for sovereignty and telling the powers loud and clear that meaningful engagement comes only when they recognize the nation of Eezham Tamils and its absolute self-determination.
Independent political formation of Eezham Tamils, strongly anchored on their national aspiration for independence and sovereignty, is the foundation for achieving anything or engaging with anybody meaningfully.
Individuals who believe in circular ways or in the formulas of powers and think that engagement first and demands later, may do so and may be appreciated if their efforts bring in acceptable results.
But for this purpose they should not attempt to deviate the voice coming from the soul of Tamil nation. Truncating political voice is not the strategy.
It is for an independently organised polity of Eezham Tamils to decide about alliances. An ally may even be an alternative Sinhala polity but it cannot be anyone who tells Tamils to forget righteous aspirations.
Tamils are not asking for other’s land or for empires. They only ask for their own land and there is nothing to get scared or to feel ashamed of it.
The people of Tamil Nadu on their part have a duty in putting the message in strongest possible terms to Karunanidhi government and to the Establishment in New Delhi.
As people of classical heritage, if Tamils fail, they fail not merely their cause but an entire human civilization.

SLA blocks spouse from collecting Welikada victim's body

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Saturday denied permission to Mrs Devendran Saro, the wife of a Welikada prisoner who died in questionable circumstances inside the maximum security prison in Boralle last week, to travel to Colombo to collect her husband's body, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The second Tamil prisoner who died under the same circumstances is yet to be identified.

The deceased, Sinnaiah Devendran, a native of Maskeliya in Up-country, was arrested after a bus bomb blast in Piliyandala. He was a garment factory worker.
Mrs. Devendran had gone to the Jaffna police to get permission to collect the body on Saturday morning but was referred to meet SLA officers to obtain permission to travel to Colombo.
Mrs Devendran than went to the SLA civil affairs office, where the SLA officers had given her an application to fill, and she submitted the form duly filled.
The SLA officers had questioned how and where her husband had died, and she had told that her husband had died in the Welikada prison.
The SLA officers then refused to issue authorization to travel, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
The body of Sinnaiah Devendran currently lies at the Police morgue, Colombo.
In 1983, 53 Tamil political prisoners were massacred inside Welikada and Magazine prisons.
In 2000, 28 Tamil detainees were killed inside the Bindunuwewa detention centre.

Colombo suspends releasing Trinco internees from Menik farm

Sri Lanka authorities, without prior notice and without citing any reason, have suspended Saturday, a planned release of a group of 600 persons out of about 3,000 internally displaced persons who are residents of Trincomalee district and fled from Vanni and currently being interned in military supervised Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa to their own villages, civil sources in Vavuniyaa told media. More than 300,000 Tamil civilians are currently being held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa.

The internees were brought from Menik Farm on Friday and were sheltered in Vavuniyaa Saivapragasa Girls Maha Vidiyayam to be sent to their villages in Trincomalee district Saturday.
But on a sudden decision taken by the civil authority on the orders of higher officials, the internees were sent back to Menik Farm internment camps.
About four hundred IDPs were sent back on Friday night. The rest IDPs were sent Saturday, sources said.

Key Campaign to Unlock Sri Lankan ‘Concentration Camps’

Marking 100 days since the end of the bloody conflict in Sri Lanka and the imprisonment of over 280,000 Tamil civilians in deplorable ‘concentration camps’, British Tamils Forum launched an unprecedented “Key” campaign.

The launch event, attended by UK Parliamentarians, human rights activists, councillors and members of community organisations, was held at the Boothroyd Suite, Portcullis House in Westminster on Thursday, 27 August from 4pm.
In an effort to raise awareness of the plight of the Tamil civilians who remain incarcerated in military-run camps, the UK Tamil Diaspora launched a “continuous campaign”, vowing to take action until all the illegally detained people are freed and resettled in their own homeland.
The safety and security of these civilians guarded by military personnel has come in to grave questioning following Channel 4’s airing of disturbing footage obtained from Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, depicting the extrajudicial execution of Tamils by government forces, underscoring international probe calls.
“Unlock the Concentration Camps in Sri Lanka” campaign slideshow presentation was followed by Siobhain McDonagh MP chairing the proceedings. Joan Ryan MP, Virendra Sharma MP, Neil Gerrard MP, Andrew Pelling MP and Cllr Pete Pattisson all participated in the launch event offering their continued support and joining international calls for an independent inquiry into all war crimes evidence.
Minister of State, Department for International Development, Gareth Thomas MP, said “there needs to be full access for UN, Media to the camps” and reiterated that the Government of Sri Lanka must “use this victory to deliver justice and perfectly legitimate aspirations of self determination to Tamils”.
Steven Pound MP voiced his concerns for the missing, the disappeared, and the murdered, highlighting that the main priorities are an “investigation into war crimes” and for Tamils to have some form of dialogue with the Sri Lankan government.
Cllr James Allie from Brent expressed great resentment at the “double standards” towards the Sri Lanka crisis, “Camps need to be cleared. Of all other places Europe has history of concentration camps. Europe knows there is no justification.”

Lanka among countries worst-hit by disappearances: RSF

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has put Sri Lanka among countries worst hit by disappearances since the year 2000. In a statement to mark the 26th International Day of the Disappeared which falls on 30 August RSF says the list of disappeared journalists is far from exhaustive.

“Whether carried out by agents of the state or local criminals bent on settling scores, the many disappearances of journalists highlights the fact that the enemies of press freedom have no hesitation in using the most cowardly and despicable methods to gag journalists. We restate our support for the families of the disappeared and we share the pain they suffer in the waiting and uncertainty about their fate”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
“We urge the relevant authorities to systematically take these disappearances seriously and to open the badly-needed investigations to find these missing journalists and punish those responsible. It is moreover incredible that cases of ‘enforced disappearance’ implicating agents of the state or those acting with its support can still be going on around the world. We urge countries that have signed the International Convention for the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance to ratify the law as quickly as possible so that it can be put into force”, it added.
Mexico, where eight journalists have disappeared since the year 2000, is the country most affected by this plague. Mauricio Estrada Zamora, journalist on the regional daily La Opinión de Apatzingán, has been missing since 12 February 2008 in Michoacan state in the south-west of the country, an area notorious for crime and the illegal drugs trade. The management of his newspaper said that three weeks before he went missing he wrote an article that enraged an agent of the Federal Investigation Agency. Also in Michoacan, the editor of the weekly Ecos de la Cuenca, José Antonio García Apac, went missing on 20 November 2006 after he keeping an appointment after he received a phone call at 7.15pm. His son got a call from his father at 7.30pm which was interrupted by voices telling him to switch off his mobile phone and to identify himself. Nothing more has been heard of him since.
A Reporters Without Borders’ delegation that visited Mexico in July 2009 met and talked to the families of these two journalists. .
In January 2009, The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka condemned the “culture of impunity and indifference” surrounding the disappearances of journalists in the country. Soldiers arrested Subramaniam Ramachandran, correspondent for Tamil dailies Thinakural and Valampuri, close to a military camp, Kalikai Junction, in the north of Jaffna, in the north of the country on 15 February 2007. His family has heard nothing of him since then. He had been reporting on the illegal trade in sand, implicating a businessman and members of the military. The Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission handled the case and it was referred to the military authorities, including the commander in chief for the Jaffna region. But as lawyer Mudiyapu Remedias explained, in this type of case “everyone is afraid of challenging the army, which denied any involvement”.
Vadivel Nimalarajah, a sub-editor on the popular Tamil daily in Jaffna, Uthayan, which is highly critical of the government, has not been heard of since 17 November 2007 when, colleagues believe, he was abducted while cycling home after working overnight at the paper.
In Iran, Pirouz Davani, editor of the newspaper Pirouz, has not been seen or heard of since he left his home one day at the end of August 1998. The authorities have never shown any sign of wanting to solve the case. Those behind his disappearance have thus been ensured complete impunity. The newspaper Kar-e-Karagar reported rumours of his “execution” in its 28 November 1998 edition. Journalist Akbar Ganji, working for Sobh-e-Emrouz, confirmed these rumours at the end of November 2000 and accused the former intelligence minister and current prosecutor general, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, of involvement in the killing. No government officials have ever commented on this report. Davani’s family took their case to the UN Human Rights Commission in December 2002.
In Gambia, "Chief" Ebrima Manneh, a journalist on the privately-owned The Daily Observer, has been missing since 7 July 2006, when he was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) for an unknown reason shortly after the closure of the African Union summit of heads of state and government which was held in the Gambian capital Banjul. The Gambian government has since then refused to reveal any information about his fate. Justice Minister, Marie Saine Firdaus, said on 6 April 2009 that the journalist had never been held in a Gambian prison. However, one week later, a police officer from Mile Two prison in Banjul, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had seen the journalist for the last time inside the prison, in 2008, before he was taken away in the middle of the night by a police officer in plain clothes. “Chief” Ebrima Manneh has never been seen since.
On the other side of the African continent, in Eritrea, scores of journalists have been arrested since September 2001 and most of them have disappeared into the country’s jails without their families knowing where they are. The authorities in the capital Asmara have remained completely silent about their fate.

Liam Fox meets Mahinda Rajapakse, Sampanthan

The government of United Kingdom (UK) is seriously involved in finding a political solution to the legitimate aspirations of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the early resettlement of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced as well as ensuring a better future for them, Mr. Liam Fox, British Conservative Party parliamentarian, is reported to have told President Mahinda Rajapakse when he met the latter on Saturday.

Liam Fox also met the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan later the same day and conveyed the outcome of the talks of he had had with President Rajapakse, the sources said.
Liam Fox had told Mr.Sampanthan that he had briefed the President during his talks that the legitimate rights of Tamil people should be safeguarded and the IDPs now being held in Vavuniyaa camps should be resettled in their own villages without any delay and that UK is prepared to assist Sri Lanka in this regard.
Liam Fox assured R. Sampanthan that his party would contribute its maximum for the betterment of Tamils in Sri Lanka and it would work hard to see Tamils live with dignity if it comes to power.
Meanwhile, R. Sampanthan is said to have briefed Liam Fox and sought his assistance to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to resettle all IDPs now languishing in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa without any further delay.

2 Tamil political prisoners killed in Welikada

Two Tamil political prisoners have died under 'questionable circumstances' inside the Sri Lankan Central Prision at Welikada in Borallea this week, civil sources in Colombo revealed on Friday. One of the prisoner's wife, a native of Vaddukkoaddai, was informed by Jaffna police that her husband, 30-year-old Sinnaiah Devendran, had died three days ago while he was under going treatment at prison hospital.

Mr. Devendran, a native of Maskeliya in Up-country, was arrested after a bus bomb blast in Piliyandala. He was a garment factory worker.
The second Tamil prisoner is yet to be identified.
In 1983, 53 Tamil political prisoners were massacred inside Welikada and Magazine prisons.
In 2000, 28 Tamil detainees were killed inside the Bindunuwewa detention centre.
These are only reported massacres. But, Human Rights organisations and Tamil circles have accused that a very large number of such killings of Tamils have taken place while in custody of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
A few days ago, when two Sinhala youth were killed in police custody in Angulana and when a Sinhala student was abducted and assaulted by the police, the public outcry and media flash made the Sri Lankan government to announce inquiry and arrest of suspects.
On Angulana killings of Sinhala youth, the Bishop of Colombo Rev. Duleep D Chickera, told Sunday Times: "Our society should recognise that the culture of impunity and extra-judicial violence experienced mostly by the Tamil community over the past several years has turned some of our police officers into victims of a vicious system. They are unable to behave differently because they do not know a better way."
When Tamil political prisoners are killed as with the present case and suspected being killed in large numbers without accounts, there is no way of mobilising public protests, Tamil circles said.

Executions by Sri Lankan Army To Be Raised to UN's Ban in Norway, a Post Mona Juul Memo "Moral Authority" Test

The video footage depicting the Sri Lankan Army committing summary executions will be raised to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his impending visit to Oslo, Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim has vowed. On August 26 at a regular press briefing before Ban left New York, Inner City Press asked his Spokesperson Michele Montas if he or she had seen the footage, and for a UN Secretariat comment. There was no response to the video, and so the the link to the video was provided. In the four days since there has been no UN Secretariat
FULL STORY

Video of killings: LTTE hopes UN, ICC will act

Reacting for the first time, since a video allegedly depicting the brutal killing of 8 Tamils captives by Sri Lankan soldiers was released, Vishwanathan Rudrakumaran, the senior most leader of the LTTE (after the arrest of its former chief Kumaran Padmanathan) said that he is horrified that such a terrible crime against humanity was committed with such casualness by the Sri Lankan armed forces.

"However, I am not surprised because this is not the first time the barbarism and the brutality of the government of Sri Lanka has been on public display. We have seen pictures of small children who were literally hung to death in Vaharai and the explosion of bombs in a woman's private parts to hide evidence of rape by members of the armed forces.
"We fear there have been many more atrocities committed. There have been tens of thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Tamils over the past 25 years, for instance, while this is the first to be captured on film." he said.
Rudrakumaran said the latest video released by Germany based "Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka" would be part of his legal campaign against the Sri Lankan government.
"Your browser may not support display of this image. Definitely this video will be part of the legal campaign to bring justice to the victims. We believe this kind of revelations prick the conscience of the international community. It is appalling to see even after the killing of more than 30,000 people and the detaining of more than 300,000 people in a clear effort to be rid of an entire community, Sri Lanka is still treated as a normal state.
"The international community's failure to bring these criminals to justice not only reinforces the betrayal of the international community of the Tamils, but also undermines the rule of law and the integrity of international institutions such as the UN. We hope that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will do an investigation on its own, will refer the matter to the Security Council and get the Council's approval to initiate prosecution in the ICC. India's support for such action toward justice will be very important." he said
Rudrakumaran expressed concern for the three lakh Tamil civilians in IDP camps set up by the Sri Lankan government in North Sri Lanka.
"We are very concerned about the basic human security of the IDPs in the camps and the former combatants in places unknown. General Sarath Fonseka says that 4-5 suspected combatants are being taken from the camps every day, while Human Rights Watch says that there are "concerns of possible ill-treatment or enforced disappearance" for these individuals removed from the camps without accountability," he said.
Rudrakumaran said many of the Sri Lankan government's actions during its last war with the LTTE had been in clear violation of the international norms and could be described as "war crimes" and "genocide".
"Your browser may not support display of this image. There is no doubt that war crimes have been committed by the government of Sri Lanka. How else can one explain the killing of more than 20,000 civilians within the last ten days of the war? In addition to killing tens of thousands outright, the government deliberately starved 300,000 civilians for months, withheld medical care and deliberately bombed and shelled hospitals, homes, fields, and temples and is holding the survivors in concentration camps indefinitely.
"In fact, the carnage committed by the government of Sri Lanka clearly satisfies the definition of genocide in the Genocide Convention. The intent to eliminate large numbers of Tamils can easily be inferred from the acts themselves. "
The Sri Lankan government continues to deny charges of war crimes and human rights violations and has said that there is no need for an internal or international investigations into the latest video or other charges.
"What else do you expect from this government? The fact they haven't even offered to have a domestic investigation reveals where the guilt lies." he said.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59088&sectionid=104&Itemid=1&issueid=121

Determine if massacre video is old or new: Karunanidhi

Chennai, Aug 29 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has asked the central government to find out if a video showing naked Tamil youths being shot dead by suspected Sri Lankan troops is a new or an old clip.

"Some say it is an old video. It is for the central government to come out with a clarification," Karunanidhi told reporters here.
The film was released by a grouping of Sri Lankan journalists based in the West. It was apparently shot in January at an unspecified location.
It showed uniformed men said to be Sri Lankan soldiers shooting two naked, blindfolded and tied young men believed to be Tamils from close range.

The film, widely shown on international television channels, also showed the bodies of more naked men, shot dead similarly. Only one body was fully clothed.

Sri Lanka has said the video is a fake and meant to sully the image of the military, which crushed the Tamil Tigers in May, ending one of the world's longest running insurgencies.

Asked about the nearly 300,000 Tamil civilian in refugee camps in Sri Lanka since the conflict ended, Karunanidhi said: "We have been urging the prime minister and the external affairs minister to take necessary action on this front.

"The union government must show more interest. The union ministers and MPs from Tamil Nadu are also urging the centre to take immediate action."

He said that tonnes of relief material sent by the state government for the displaced Tamils had reached the island for distribution.

Tamils for Obama: Keep the Sri Lankan War Criminals Out of the U.S.

A video recently emerged showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound and naked Tamil civilian prisoners. The video was broadcast by the U.K.'s Channel 4 news. Tamils for Obama wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Patricia Butenis requesting them to block the entry of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa's delegation to the U.N. General Assembly session this fall where he plans to present SL military men to the assembly for the world's approval. Tamils for Obama suggests that these soldiers will be revealed as war criminals and will eventually embarrass the U.N. and the U.S.

New York (PRWEB) August 28, 2009 -- Britain's Channel 4 news aired a video showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound and naked Tamil civilian prisoners.
(To see the Channel 4 news report go to:http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=35256686001
Tamils for Obama, citing the Channel 4 video as further evidence of war crimes by the Sri Lankan military, requested that the U.S. refuse to allow President Rajapaksa's delegation to enter the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly session this fall. President Rajapaksa plans to include a number of Sri Lankan soldiers in this diplomatic delegation. Tamils for Obama maintains that most of them are guilty of war crimes like those shown in the video.

The video was made by a Sri Lankan soldier on his mobile phone and then passed along to an independent journalists' group, which supplied it to Channel 4. The video seems to give clear evidence of this Sri Lankan war crime.
"We are pleased that this video emerged," said a spokesman for Tamils for Obama. "It came from independent sources--a Sri Lankan soldier and a European journalists' group--who cannot be called propagandists for Tamils. This is plainly genuine."
Tamils for Obama also mentioned in a letter the Tamil group sent to Secretary of State Clinton, Attorney General Holder and Ambassador Butenis that "according to the U.N., the number of Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan government is over 30,000 between January and May of this year."
The same Tamils for Obama spokesman said that "Stories of Sri Lankan atrocities still horrify us, but they are no surprise. As we wrote to Secretary Clinton and Attorney General Holder 'We have heard stories like this for years. We have heard that thousands of crippled Tamil civilians were buried alive by the Sri Lankan armed forces on May 18, 2009, a story which we expect will eventually be proven and become part of the world's consciousness.'"
The Tamils for Obama spokesman said that independent proof of the mass burials has not yet emerged, but that they are confident that the truth of the matter would eventually be proven.
The Tamils for Obama letter concludes "We consider that these bloody-handed killers are appropriately regarded as war criminals and should be barred from entering the U.S. We urge the U.S. state and justice departments to prevent them from entering the U.S. and exploiting American credulity."

To read the letter, go to:http://www.tamilsforobama.com/Letters/SL_UN_Delegation.html

Tamils are an ethnic group living mainly in the northeast of Sri Lanka and southern India. During the final weeks of the recent civil war, the Sri Lankan government killed about 1,000 Tamil civilians per day, according to the United Nations, and about 30,000 in 2009. Tamils are a minority population in Sri Lanka, and have borne the brunt of a civil war they regard as genocide. One-third of the Tamil population has fled the island and formed a substantial diaspora overseas. Tamils for Obama is comprised of Tamils who have settled in the U.S. or who were born in the U.S.

To contact the group, call at (617) 765- 4394 and speak to, or leave a message for, the Communication Director, Tamils for Obama.

UN expert urges Sri Lanka to probe execution video

GENEVA (AFP) – A United Nations expert on Friday urged the Sri Lankan government to set up an independent probe into the authenticity of a video clip aired in Britain allegedly showing Sri Lankan troops executing prisoners.

Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Colombo had categorically denied the allegations, but stressed the need for an investigation.
"If the government?s position is validated as a result of an inquiry, the
international community can rest easy and the government will have been vindicated," he said.
"There is no justification for not moving ahead with such an investigation in view of the government?s confidence that such atrocities were never perpetrated by its armed forces," he added.
The images, which he described as "horrendous," indicate a serious violation of international law if found to be authentic, he said.
Alston also pointed out that he had asked permission to visit Sri Lanka on several occasions in recent years, but Colombo had not given him the green light.
The video footage, aired Tuesday by Channel 4 in Britain, was allegedly shot during the final stages of the army's defeat of Tamil Tiger separatists.
The rebels were finally vanquished in May after nearly four decades of ethnic bloodshed.
Sri Lanka's military had said the video was a fabrication designed to "discredit" its armed forces.
Widespread international concern was voiced over the number of civilians killed during the last leg of the fighting, while aid groups now fear for the welfare of 300,000 Tamils held in the state-run camps.

Erik Solheim Suggests Investigation On SL War Crimes

Based on the video footage lived by the British broadcast channel 4 that depicted the cruel killings of people during the Ezham war in Sri Lanka, International peacemaker and Norwegian external affairs minister Erik Solheim suggested the global community to investigate the war crimes committed by Sri Lanka.

Earlier, Erik Solheim led the peace keeping time on behalf of UN to settle the dispute between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ezham and the Sri Lankan government which turned futile. He is now about to met the UN envoy Ban Ki Moon and has promised he would urge the international community to commence an investigation. The Channel 4 video is more than solid evidence to accuse the government and those who committed the crime is punishable under law. 'Thousands of Tamils went missing during the bloody war and no one has questioned the government regarding this violation of Human Rights. The ruling government has willfully ignored human rights and laid rules of their own. Without evidences, the UN was unable to proceed but now we have the necessary docs to bring them under custody. Moreover, they have committed the punishable crime of kidnapping international journalists with their white van and I will urge the envoy to put an end to this atrocity,' said Solheim.