Did a Ghost Crawl Inside My Laptop?

Sri Lanka war crime victim's spirit seems restless over involuntary death pose.

(SALEM) - Having your life and dignity ripped away by heartless militant thugs with orders to kill kill kill... it is enough to make even the toughest people cringe, and yet that is exactly what happened right

Isaipriya, dead with her hands tied

under the world's nose, to tens of thousands of minority Tamil Hindus and Christians only three years ago in the north of Sri Lanka.

A young Tamil woman I have written about in the past, named Isaipriya Veeravanakkam, (Sometimes spelled Isaipriya, Isaippiriya and also Issa Pria) suffered this same fate, and I think she dropped by this week to confirm that we hit the war crime evidence jackpot.

Do the dead sometimes pass along messages to us? Is it really possible? There is more to Isaipriya's visit and I will expand on that below.

I would say this much; that if anyone deserves the opportunity to reach out from the grave and make a point, it is this beautiful young woman who had nary a chance when the military force she belonged to surrendered to the Sri Lankan army.

They should have been arrested and held, instead they were abused with depravity and tortured and violated sexually and then murdered by a dishonest government intent on eliminating large numbers of people over their cultural and religious identity.

What needs to be understood by war crime investigators is that Isaipriya and her comrades were thrown to the dogs; raped and abused by immoral soldiers who could never have gotten away with so many crimes against both civilians and Prisoners of War (POW) which Isaipriya, the wife of a senior Tamil Tiger commander, was - had they not been both allowed and encouraged by their commanding officers.

It isn't just the behavior of the field soldiers, it is the attitude of the majority Sinhalese government toward Sri Lankan Tamils.

POW's have many rights under international law and the Geneva Convention, but Sri Lanka made a mockery of those laws with its treatment of the captured Tamil Tigers; so many of whom remain missing, their fates unknown. The story exemplifies the abuse toward humanity that accompanies the designation of 'terrorist' and even a cursory look at Sri Lanka's history shows that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) spent every day of their lives battling government terrorism.

The terrorist label encourages western funded governments to commit atrocities. In case after case, the so-called terrorists are simply minority populations battling heavily funded military organizations. One side kills from miles away, the other kills by transporting bombs with their bodies.

I think it is safe to conclude that if the average suicide bombers could afford jet fighters, they would not give their lives for their cause, at least not in direct suicide missions.

Isaipriya tamilnet.tv anchor killed

Channel 4 released Srilanka war crime video

One of the women victims, stripped naked, hands tied behind back, and shot dead, as seen in the video footage that has recently reached Channel-4has been identified as 27-year-old Shoba, with nom de plume Isaippiriya, who worked as media specialist with the LTTE, according to the TamilNet Vanni correspondent who recently reached a free country in the West.

“I am able to learn through those who have been at Mu’l'livaaykkaal in the final days of war, that Shoba remained unarmed and did not take part in combat,” the Vanni correspondent told TamilNet, adding that Shoba lost her 4-month-old baby girl, named Akal, in the last stage of the war.

TamilNet refrains from publishing the cruel video, but instead publishes a video footage of Isaippiriya as a reporter from LTTE’s O’liveechchu video magazine.

Isaippiriya was born in 1982, was educated in the Memorial School until Grade 5. She obtained a scholarship to continue her education in Veampadi Girls High School in Jaffna until 1996.With her family displaced by war to Vanni, Isaippiriya continued her studies in Vanni till she joined the movement’s media division.

Isaipriya tamilnet.tv anchor killed Channel 4 released Srilanka war crime video - Kerala365.com

It is widely believed by humanitarians around the world that Sri Lanka is trying to abscond from justice and there is no question that the government has done everything in its power to discourage and downplay war crime proceedings in this very serious matter. Its pattern involves accusing reporters of harboring personal grudges toward Sri Lanka. Their accusations against Channel-4 softened after their second edition of 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' aired, removing any sign of doubt that the Vanni became a bloody mess as Rajapakse's forces pounded people in so-called 'safe zones' which were in reality, pre-made traps.

Civilians in particular areas were eliminated completely. There will never be a full accounting of Tamils killed in this war because Sri Lanka destroyed records and in many cases, bodies were burned to prevent the spread of disease.

As you will agree after seeing the evidence, there is no question that this particular incident is a war crime and that Isaipriya was staged to appear as a non combatant. It is my belief that she is not pleased with her role as a postmortem war crime 'prop' for Sri Lanka's military.

The Evidence

Clearly tied hands

Homage To Isaipriya - Poem - My Sister, My Mother, My Comrade By Karthick Ramirez Many a disease plagues this world but none so devastating as the silence of those that can speak. I speak today, I cry today, for you. My Sister, My Mother, My Comrade. My Sister! With music in your name. The ‘isai’ of your sacrifice like that of my other sisters Manorama, Nilofar, Phulmoni will be sung for ages to come in songs of our resistance This I promise, your brother, a sorry being whose only weapons are his words. My Mother! I was born as your son the day the child of your womb was killed. Mother, I am your son. As I am the son of the mothers of Eelam, Kurdistan, Palestine. A son who seeks justice for unheard voices, for untold horrors, for unspoken miseries. A sorry being, your son, whose only weapons are his words. My Comrade! I claim to live (rather shamelessly) for the cause you died for, a people longing for freedom, a soil aching for peace, a love for life, now facing despair, now facing death. As my eyes see what has been done to you tears pour – as words. Words. The only weapons of a sorry being, your comrade. Oh dove of freedom torn apart by vultures of lust! Oh lamb of peace prey to jackals of power! Oh angel of justice! Oh goddess of liberty! She lies there, naked and ravaged by creatures called ‘men’. Disrobed was not your body, but the farce called Lanka. Violated was not you, but the notion of humanity. Raped, again and again, was the silence of those that can speak, but who chose not to. But I speak today, I cry today. Your sibling, your son, your comrade. Now a man. Now a walking corpse. Whose only weapons are his words. As of now…

Images of her poor body stripped and murdered, with her hands tied behind her back, have been around for months. (We have only carried them in the past out of necessity. Those who want to see the graphic images can follow the links below.)

They obviously tell us she was bound, her pants are pulled down and her shirt is lifted to expose her breasts. She was clearly a victim of sex abuse; she almost certainly was raped, yet the trail ended there with the first images, and as hideous as the images were, they did not demonstrate conclusively that she was a war crime victim.

Now nobody can dispute it.

The key point is that the young woman's hands were tied behind her back when she was initially located and her remains recorded with a video camera and a still camera. The photos are separate items that arrived after the video. Both video and stills clearly confirm her tied hands.

The conclusive evidence surfaced several days ago: previously unseen video shot by the Sri Lankan army showing dead LTTE soldiers laid out in rows, and Isaipriya's body is among them with her hands untied.

The video clips contain dates and the new video with her hands untied is shot after the initial recordings of her dead body.

Isaipriya was a pawn both alive and dead in a political killing game, and she was not killed as a combatant, which Sri Lanka claimed, but as a captive prisoner of war.

It is slightly ironic that Sri Lankan officials accused Channel 4, our group and others, of doctoring photos and videos and misrepresenting them to falsely vilify their military in our accusations of war crimes. Sri Lanka's claims were all proven false; the UN confirmed that the images indeed tell a story of war crimes against Tamils. It looks like the Government of Sri Lanka is the only group doctoring evidence.

London Attorney Vasuki Muruhathas, made the clips available toSalem-News.com and other media, and it has blown the doors off Sri Lanka's attempt to cover up these heinous and very serious barbaric crimes.

Her hands have been untied and yet they are clearly tied in the tragic photos we first published several months ago. It is also clear in the early photos that she has not been dead for very long.

Hands untied

The new video unfortunately is in black and white, however there is no question that Isaipriya's body is among the others, and to erase any possible doubt, the person recording the video states in Sinhalese, "Tamil Tiger announcer" while taping her body, which shows that her status as a journalist with the LTTE, not a combatant, was well established.

Isaipriya, who was also known as Shoba, was tied up and murdered and then posed to appear as a combatant, this can now be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And while this evidence has worked its way forward, we find odd collaboration to silence these war crimes. Google Earth, YouTube; others are working apparently on behalf of the Sri Lankan government to ban images and videos that show the world what happened to the Tamils, it is nothing short of amazing that these organizations would be complicit in helping hide war crimes from the public.

In the video below, K.P. Marikumar, Director of Spark Trust, says Isaipriya was a mother and a freedom fighter.

"When this particular incident was aired by British TV Channel 4, people hear the army in the Sinhalese force speaking in native Sinhala language, making remarks on the naked dead body of this woman. They are making filthy sexual remarks."

In the video below, he reads Homage To Isaipriya - Poem - My Sister, My Mother, My Comrade by Karthick Ramirez

Geneva Convention

The Fourth Geneva Convention (GCIV) is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. Sri Lanka became a signer of the Geneva Convention in 1959.

Adopted ten years earlier, GCIV defines humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone, and outlaws the practice of 'total war' (see sidebar).

There are currently 194 countries party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including this fourth treaty but also including the other three.

By 1993, The Geneva Conventions passed into the body of customary international law, and it became binding on non-signatories to the Conventions whenever they engage in armed conflicts.

Article 3 states that even where there is not a conflict of international character the parties must as a minimum adhere to minimal protections described as: noncombatants, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, and combatants who are hors de combat (out of the fight) due to wounds, detention, or any other cause shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, with the following prohibitions:

The illegal concept of 'Total War' Total war is a war in which a belligerent engages in the complete mobilization of fully available resources and population. In the mid-19th century, "total war" was identified by scholars as a separate class of warfare. In a total war, there is less differentiation between combatants and civilians than in other conflicts, and sometimes no such differentiation at all, as nearly every human resource, civilians and soldiers alike, can be considered to be part of the belligerent effort. - Total war - From Wikipedia

(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;

(b) taking of hostages;

(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment

(d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
- Fourth Geneva Convention - From Wikipedia

According to International Humanitarian Law - Treaties & Documents Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949:

Art. 147. Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.
- International Humanitarian Law - Treaties & Documents

Sri Lanka and World Conscience

The Sri Lankan government has consistently denied absolutely everything to do with war crimes against the Tamils, and was only drug to Geneva for war crimes charges several months ago under great protest.

They murdered journalists friendly to the wrong 'cause' like Isaipriya, trying desperately to prevent the outside world from seeing their deeds, and for a while it looked like they would get away with it, but then Channel 4 in London released 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' and the government of Majinda Rajapakse began watching the world slowly begin to realize what they had done.

The pogrom against Tamils dates back to the late 1940's when the British occupiers finally left. For 30 years the Tamils attempted to live in peace with the Sinhala Buddhist majority but all efforts failed and legislation spelled the end of the Tamil culture and language in Sri Lanka.

This is when the Tamil Tigers were born and the war was on.

The LTTE would eventually be dubbed as a 'terrorist' group under the Bush and Blair timeframe and this is what Rajapakse used to commit what truly is a Genocide against these people. The government's war on Tamils is ethnic cleansing and terrorism measured in blood trails and body counts.

But this new revelation marks a turning point for the Tamil Diaspora and the evidence is in the proper hands; we are reporting it but I think it is safe to say the U.S. government is very much up to speed and paying increasing attention to this abomination of the Rajapakse regime.

Unanticipated Showing

Three nights ago I was working late. I generally work what I call the vampire shift and often write and publish until the sun comes up in the morning. It gets quiet during these hours and I am often very productive.

Sometimes, depending on what I'm writing about, I get this odd sort of feeling that is like a wave of electricity passing through my chest, and a slight chill. It isn't always scary, more like solemn and I do not doubt that it is connected to the constant death reporting, death photos, video clips; the friends we have lost in this fight.

If we are the journalists and human activists that we claim to be, the first thing we have to know is that shielding the public from these images of death does no service to anyone. Sure, it is offensive, now that we are clear on that... you get the idea; truth comes in harsh doses, that is why we have to clean this world up.

On this occasion I didn't feel that ominous little chill, nor did I sense that anything was 'wrong'. I minimized my Internet browser to look for an item in a desktop file, and the photo of Isaipriya was filling the entire background. It is the image from video, in black and white with her hands untied.

Somehow, a photo in a file that had not been looked at or used for several days, had replaced a gorgeous sunset image I had on my desktop for the last several weeks. Was it a message from Isaipriya, letting me know that the image staring back at me would represent the tipping point for justice for the people of Tamil Eelam?

I asked long time Tamil activist Donald Gnanakone what he thought of the strange appearance of Isaipriya on my computer screen. He said it certainly was a spiritual message, without question. It is true that the pain from this event, called Genocide in many circles, is a powerful commodity. Other people I have discussed it with tend to agree, that the odds of it just happening from a computer malfunction or glitch didn't seem as likely, as something else.

I like the 'something else' theory, and it doesn't matter how, who or why... because I am already in the ring for this fight and need no convincing. But it makes me believe more than ever that paying attention to the details is the only thing one has to do and in time, the real evidence will show itself, and it has.

Tim King's previous Salem-News.com reports on Sri Lanka: