By BBC UK –
Senior Channel 4 TV official expelled from Sri Lanka
A senior official from Channel 4 has been expelled from Sri Lanka, says the country’s government.
Stuart Cosgrove and Shirani Sabaratnam
Stuart Cosgrove and his wife Shirani Sabaratnam went on a “blacklist”, after Channel 4 News said the country’s armed forces may have committed war crimes.
Mr Cosgrove’s wife was refused a visa and turned back from the airport.
In London more than 500 Tamil protesters jeered the Sri Lankan president, as he arrived at a Jubilee lunch for commonwealth leaders.
The protesters outside Marlborough House on Pall Mall accuse the country’s president Mahinda Rajapakse of war crimes.
Not ‘deported’
The Sri Lankan government said Mr Cosgrove – Channel 4’s head of diversity – was forced to leave the country shortly after he arrived.
The official in charge of immigration told the BBC’s Charles Haviland Mr Cosgrove’s expulsion “was not a deportation”, but he had simply been “instructed to leave”.
He said Mr Cosgrove and his wife, who is of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, were on a watchlist of people not wanted in Sri Lanka.
When asked why they had been blacklisted, the immigration official said: “Because they are from Channel 4, which without reason has harmed Sri Lanka’s reputation.”
Channel 4 News angered the Sri Lankan government with two documentaries alleging, with video, that the country’s armed forces may have committed war crimes.
The programme-makers say the Sinhalese-dominated army used extreme violence against Tamil civilians and prisoners-of-war in 2009.
Channel 4 has strongly defended its journalism, and a spokeswoman said Mr Cosgrove had no editorial role in the Channel 4 film, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”.
She added Ms Sabaratnam had never worked for the channel and was employed by the digital lifestyle channel, UKTV.
‘Peaceful, yet determined’
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has cancelled a planned speech in London over fears it may trigger more protests.
More than 500 human rights and Tamil protesters gathered in central London on Wednesday to march along the Strand and Pall Mall before gathering outside Malborough House.
The president’s arrival was jeered by the crowd, who shouted “war criminal, we want justice”.
The protest was “peaceful, yet determined”, said the BBC’s world newsgathering producer Jonny Hallam.
He said the protesters then moved to outside the hotel where Mr Rajapakse is staying, where they plan to stay until Wednesday evening.
More than 25 years of civil war between the majority Sinhalese population and the minority Tamil ethnic group officially ended three years ago when government forces seized the last area controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels.
A United Nations report published last year said both sides in the conflict committed war crimes against civilians.
But the Sri Lankan government rejected the report, describing it as biased.
Related news; Update: Channel-4 Director And His Wife Deported From Sri Lanka
Harini Weeraratne / June 7, 2012
Journalists are deported, gagged, silenced !!
This is the way truth is handled by Rajapaksa military regime ..
More truth is uncovered about the inhuman brutality of the Rajapaksa bloodthirsty Government.
Further evidence has emerged of the brutal treatment of Tamils by Sri Lankan soldiers during the closing stages of the country’s civil war. Video footage obtained by The Independent shows soldiers gloating over a pile of more than 100 Tamil corpses, including dozens of women who have been deliberately stripped of their clothes to expose their breasts and genitals.
The videos are part of a growing body of evidence which has emerged over the past two years – much of which was recorded by Sri Lankan soldiers – revealing how many Tamils were tortured, summarily executed and often humiliated after their deaths for the entertainment of their victors.
The latest footage – which was smuggled out of Sri Lanka by a man who used to work at an internet café frequented by soldiers, and passed to The Independent – emerged as thousands of angry Tamil demonstrators massed outside the Commonwealth’s headquarters in London yesterday in protest at a lunch hosted by the Queen, which was attended by Sri Lanka’s controversial President, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Angry chants could be heard as the Queen entered Malborough House off Pall Mall and organisers were forced to cancel a planned speech by Mr Rajapaksa following security concerns.
Tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and Tamil insurgents were killed in the final stages of Sri Lanka’s 30-year civil war, which ended in 2009 with the destruction of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam separatist group.
Human rights groups and the UN have produced evidence that both sides committed war crimes during the final stages of the conflict. But there has been particular criticism aimed at Mr Rajapaksa’s government, which has refused to hold any independent inquiry into Sri Lankan army atrocities despite compelling evidence.
The latest videos obtained by The Independent reveal how – even after death – Tamils were often treated with contempt by Sinhalese soldiers. The black-and-white mobile phone footage shows more than 100 corpses laid out on tarpaulins. Some of the male victims are clad in the striped camouflage worn by the Tamil Tigers but the majority are dressed in civilian clothes.
It is impossible to say whether the victims were combatants, civilians or both. Tamil Tigers were known to use civilians as human shields, while Sri Lanka’s army has been accused of deliberately shelling civilian areas as it pushed ahead with its final onslaught against the LTTE.
What is clear, however, is the special treatment reserved for bodies of female Tamils. While the majority of men are fully clothed or topless, almost all the women featured in the video have been deliberately stripped naked or had their breasts and genitals exposed. Within Sri Lankan culture it is considered deeply shameful for a woman to expose any skin that would normally be covered by a sari or clothing.
Previous footage has emerged of Tamil women stripped naked either before or after their death whilst human rights groups have continue to document reports of rape and sexual violence by soldiers. In one particularly well known example uncovered by Channel 4 last year, Sri Lankan soldiers took victory photos of the corpse of prominent Tamil news reporter Isaippiriya. In many of the shots she was naked and had her hands tied behind her back prompting concerns that she might have been raped before being executed.
Charu Lata Hogg, an expert on Sri Lanka at Chatham House, says the footage fits into a wider pattern of abuse meted out to Tamils. “There is credible evidence in the public domain which suggests Sri Lankan troops used degrading and humiliating behaviour towards both male and female Tamils, civilians and combatants alike, during the final stages of the conflict,” she said. “The UN goes as far as to say that the ‘screening process’ directly resulted in executions, disappearances and rape of some LTTE suspects.”
Despite the emergence of scores of videos shot by civilians and soldiers during the war, the Sri Lankan government has routinely denied that its forces were responsible for atrocities and claims that such footage is faked.
When informed of the new videos yesterday, President Mahinda’s spokesperson Bandula Jayasekara told The Independent: “This is a continuation of a famous fairy tale. These videos are an attempt to discredit the government of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka’s forces. These guys are masters of propaganda; they have been doing this for 30 years.”
But Vasuki Maruhathas, a London based solicitor who obtained the video footage from a client and handed it to The Independent, said she believed the footage was genuine. She said the video was smuggled out of the country because her client – who wishes to remain nameless – worked at an internet café which was often frequented by soldiers. He was regularly asked to back up their phones or download videos and photos so they could email them.
The Independent has viewed 32 videos and 26 photos that appear to have been taken by the same phone. Most show pictures show a pile of corpses at an unknown location whilst seven photos show what appear to be captured Tamil Tiger fighters handcuffed inside a bus. Some of them are children.
The footage appears to have been taken by female Sri Lankan soldier. Her voice and that of her colleagues, all of whom speak in Sinahalese, can be heard in numerous videos and seen two others riding in a military vehicle. The last video appears to show the solider back at home with her family.
“It would very hard for all of these to be a forgery,” said Miss Maruhathas. “It clearly tells a story of this female soldier.”
Asked why Sri Lankan soldiers might have stripped the women naked she replied: “There are clearly two possibilities. Either they were raped and sexually assaulted before they died, or they were stripped after their deaths. Only animals would do something like this”.
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/as-its-president-dines-with-the-queen-sri-lankas-torture-of-its-tamils-is-revealed/
/
suz / June 7, 2012
gosl was simply instructed to leave bomba gunda too ,it was not deported.gosl will act to take your terrorist in jail pretty soon.
/
Rubert Vanderkoon / June 7, 2012
That’s too long for a piece of waffle.””Charu Lata Hogg is an expert on Sri Lanka..”..that itself is an insult to any Tamil, Muslim, Sinhala or anybody in Sri Lanka. This woman only looks like a Sri Lankan, nothing else. When she came on TV, she sounded like an undergrad who was there at the TV station on a placement. For her to say, there is “credible evidence..”, it is laughable. She clearly is nuts. By “insurgents ” , did you mean terrorists? because that is what UK, US and EU called them.
/
Sathasivam Ranjan / June 7, 2012
Tamils have suffered a Holocaust long enough in the North. There have been Government-run pogroms to kill Tamils in the ’80s – no wonder why there was Eelam (separate Tamil state) provocation.
Nevertheless, within two weeks 100,000s of Tamils were killed – raped, and slaughtered. There is no justification on that. If the so called ‘democratic’ Sri Lankan Government cared about this, they wouldn’t have placed a media ban – it, in this case, is worse than Libya.
The Commonwealth Secretary encouraged the President to meet the Queen – though the Royals had no such intentions in meeting them.
With Syria being backed by China and Russia, the same is with Sri Lanka being backed by China and Russia – it explains all.
This is a Holocaust that has not been worth reporting. Supposedly, the war zones have now become peaceful – indeed they have but the Government have taken over the place – burning Hindu temples for Buddhist temples and taking land.
A Tamil refugee once returned to Sri Lanka to claim his privately-owned land, it emerged he was slay once he returned.
Mahinda Rajapakse is a war criminal but also a tyrant – his family are the senior political opposition and those which really want to oppose Rajapakse are sent for death penalty (Fonseka)
Something must be done with Rajapaksa, the Sinhalese Hitler
/
Rubert Vanderkoon / June 7, 2012
It’s gone up from Gordon Tosh Weiss’s 40,000 plucked out of thin air to 100,000 now, has it? Holy cow. Fonseka will soon join the government, the rumours can’t all be wrong.Anyway, you seem to be in a cloud cuckoo land. Do you read news in Tamilnet? That’s not a newspaper, it’s a toilet paper, read a good journal for genuine news, that’ll learn ye.
/
Namal Khemadasa / June 7, 2012
Brutal War Criminal Rajapaksa tarnished Sri Lanka Reputation not the journalists who expose his war crimes !!
/
Panda / June 7, 2012
The white vans, threats, and intimidation, of the Sri Lankan media, might be successful for the Rajapaksa’s, but you cannot muzzle the international media. THe truth will prevail thanks to modern day technology.
/
Rubert Vanderkoon / June 7, 2012
Lol..it is you call these journalists?Don’t hold your breath, the part publicly funded Criminals 4 News channel will dissappear soon for their blunders.
/
Lulzsec / June 7, 2012
Sorry Rajapaksa’s you can’t fool everyone all the time.
/
Helena Waidiyasekerta / June 8, 2012
Yes this crazy despot is a Hitler in modern times, we the masses are no longer asses, its time to topple the whole rotting system and save our ghenerations from a cancer that is looming to create havoc with this greedy plunders with their families and leave our poor innocent children with only the grassto eat. Come on lets get together and stop the rot, its never too late, all righteous citizens wake up from your slumber.
/
Mark Webber / June 9, 2012
Mage Rattaran Helena
Please explain us in brief “How are you going to topple HE MR’ government?”. 65% of Sri Lankans voted for him in the recent elections. Not sure you could do that in an election.
I hope you are not looking for LTTE Terrorist’s support and mass around your umbrella to topple the goverment. By the way Good luck you my dear for your pipe dream.
/
Rajitha Hewamallikarachchi / June 9, 2012
This incident also proves Channel 4 has a Tamil Tiger connection. That’s why they produce fraudulant videos about Sri Lanka
/
Banda / April 24, 2013
I think not only the Sabaratnam the tigress and the husband, but all traitors of the Colombo telegraph who write under Sinhala names should be expelled from the country. We will not allow our hard earned victory to be betryed by a bunch of pukka sahibs from Colombo.
/