|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Probe sought in Sri Lankan-Tamil war
UPI,
Jan. 7.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A video of alleged executions by Sri Lankan soldiers that aired last summer merits a war crimes probe, a U.N. human rights expert said Thursday.
Philip Alston, an independent expert on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said his investigation into possible war crimes committed during the conflict with Tamil rebels, indicated the government report wasn't thorough or impartial, the United Nations said in a release.
"The conclusion clearly is that the video is authentic," Alston said "I have therefore called on the government of Sri Lanka to respond to these allegations."
The government has denied the allegations raised by the video, which purportedly shows extrajudicial execution of two Tamil men by the Sri Lankan military as well as claimed prior executions.
More...Discuss this story
Published: Thu Jan 7 21:56:29 EST 2010
|
|
|
|
|
Sri Lankan execution video authentic: UN envoy
afp,
Jan 8.
UNITED NATIONS -Independent experts have concluded that video footage allegedly showing Sri Lankan troops executing prisoners during the final phase of their battle against Tamil Tiger rebels last year was authentic, a UN envoy said Thursday.
The video, aired on Britain's Channel 4 last August, "is authentic," Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions told reporters here.
He said the conclusion was reached by three independent experts and called for a "genuine and independent investigation" by the Sri Lankan government.
He noted that when the video showing the execution of a number of Tamil Tiger militants "stripped naked, bound and blindfolded and shot in the head by semi-automatic weapons" was shown, the Colombo government dismissed it as "a fake" and "propaganda" by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Alston said he asked three qualified experts to review the video after four Sri Lankan specialists had concluded that it was a fake.
More...Discuss this story
Published: Thu Jan 7 18:36:59 EST 2010
|
|
|
|
|
Shock and anger continue one year after Lasantha Wickrematunge’s unpunished murder
RSF,
Jan 8.
“A year has gone by without any progress in the investigation into his murder,” Lal Wickrematunge said today to Reporters Without Borders, on the eve of the first anniversary of the fatal shooting of his brother, Lasantha Wickrematunge, the Colombo-based Sunday Leader’s well-known managing editor. It is Lal who has replaced him at the helm of investigative weekly, some of whose journalists were recently threatened.
“When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me,” Lasantha Wickrematunge wrote in an editorial that was published after his death. Known for his revelations and criticism of the government, he was called a “terrorist journalist” by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, while the president’s brother, defence minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, used the courts in a bid to silence him and tried to smear his reputation in foreign press interviews after his death.
More...Discuss this story
Published: Thu Jan 7 22:02:21 EST 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Express your opinions, meet others at the
