Rizana Executed: President Rajapaksa Bears Full Responsibility For This Death

By AHRC -January 9, 2013

According to reports received, the Government of Saudi Arabia has executed Ms. Rizana Nafeek (1988 – 9 January 2013) today. The embassy of Sri Lanka in Riyadh has confirmed this report.

demonstrator holds an image of Rizana Fathima Nafeek during a protest in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 8, 2011 Dinuka Liyanawatte / Reuters

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to categorically state, that the singular responsibility for this innocent young Sri Lankan woman’s death is upon the President of Sri Lanka, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. His office and the government led by him shamelessly neglected the life of this innocent Sri Lankan woman, who remained incarcerated aboard since May 2005. At the time when she was charged with the alleged crime, Rizana was only 17 years of age, and was soon sentenced to death by a Saudi court, in proceedings that the court held of which Rizana had no informed consent. The Government of Sri Lanka or the office of the President did nothing to save Rizana’s life, despite calls for assistance from Rizana’s family and from the global civil society. Passing off as concerns, the Government of Sri Lanka did nothing, except issuing valueless statements relating to this case. (photo: Rizana’s family in Sri Lanka)

All Sri Lankans should regard today as a day of shame.

Due to efforts by the AHRC, an appeal was filed and Rizana’s execution stayed this far. Despite calls for help President Rajapaksha’s government refused to pay at least the lawyers’ fee for filing the appeal.

The law relating to forced confession in Saudi Arabia is criminally wrong. The AHRC had alerted the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights about this matter repeatedly. However even the High Commissioner failed to make an effective intervention to save the life of this innocent woman.

There is no doubt that the charge of murder against Rizana is wrong. The laws in Saudi Arabia falls short of universally accepted norms concerning investigation of crimes, most importantly in this case the failure to conduct of an autopsy upon the body of the deceased person, alleged to have been murdered by Rizana. None of the fair trial guarantees were observed when Rizana was tried in the Saudi court.

All Sri Lankans and virtually thousands of people across the globe who intervened trying to save Rizana must have received the news of her execution with shock. An estimated 1.8 million Sri Lankans currently work aboard, of which 45 per cent are women.

The AHRC expresses its deepest condolences to Rizana’s family at this time of grief and shock. Despite the family doing their best to save Rizana’s life, they received no support from their government to save Rizana

So long as there is a government that does not show any care for the rights of its people, similar tragedies will be repeated in Sri Lanka.

A dossier on Rizana prepared by the AHRC could be viewed at here

Related stories;

GOSL Has Failed To Provide The Lawyer’s Fees For Rizana Nafeek Death Sentence Appeal

The Imminent Danger Of The Execution Of Rizana Nafeek

Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek executed in Saudi Arabia

9 January 2013

The parents of Ms Nafeek had repeatedly appealed to King Abdullah to pardon her

Saudi Arabia has executed a Sri Lankan domestic worker for killing a baby in her care in 2005, a foreign ministry official in Colombo has told the BBC.

The maid, Rizana Nafeek, had denied killing the four-month-old boy.

Her supporters say she was only 17 at the time of the killing. They say her execution is a breach of international child rights.

The Sri Lankan parliament held a minute's silence on Wednesday in honour of Ms Nafeek.

News of the execution came on the same day that the International Labour Organization (ILO) said that laws were needed "urgently" to give greater protection to domestic workers.

The ILO report estimates that only about 10% of all domestic workers - about 5.3 million people - are covered by labour laws to the same degree as other workers.

In Sri Lanka itself, the execution has rekindled debate about the safety of expatriate workers in the Middle East and about the poverty which drives people including Ms Nafeek to seek work abroad.

In a statement, the Sri Lankan foreign ministry said that President Rajapakse and the government deplored the execution "despite all efforts at the highest level of the government and the outcry of the people locally and internationally".

Translation problems

A Sri Lankan MP who campaigns for Sri Lankan workers abroad, Ranjan Ramanayake, described the Saudi government as "dictators" who would never execute Europeans or Americans, only Asians and Africans.

The parents of Ms Nafeek had repeatedly appealed to King Abdullah to pardon her. Her father is currently in hospital, officials, say, and her mother is too distressed to talk about the execution.

Correspondents say that it appears that employment agents falsified Rizana Nafeek's age so that she could work in Saudi Arabia

Ms Nafeek was convicted in 2007 of murdering four-month-old baby Naif al-Quthaibi, whom she was caring for in 2005.

She said that an initial confession was made under duress and without linguistic assistance. Supporters say that she also had no access to lawyers before her conviction.

Human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have criticised the Saudi authorities for their handling of the case, as have campaigners in Sri Lanka, who argue that there were also serious translation problems at the time she confessed to the crime.

They argue that her reported execution breaches the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which Saudi Arabia has ratified.

"Saudi Arabia is one of just three countries that executes people for crimes they committed as children," said senior HRW women's rights researcher Nisha Varia,

"Rizana Nafeek is yet another victim of the deep flaws in Saudi Arabia's judicial system."

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Sri Lanka visited Ms Nafeek's home village in 2010, where he saw a school register and a birth certificate confirming her date of birth.

Our correspondent says that if the documents are genuine, she was a minor when the alleged offence was committed. It also appears that employment agents falsified her age in order for her to get work in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi interior ministry said that Ms Nafeek was beheaded for smothering the infant after an argument with the child's mother in the town of al-Dwadmi.

Jaffna University reopens at the height of intimidation

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2013, 12:45 GMT]
Proving to the entire world, how a single mind as that of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s, suffering from paranoia related to power and genocide but unchecked by the world, could take a realm of institutions and people such as a university, vice chancellor, education secretary, Bishop, military commander, deans, professors and students for a ride, the Jaffna University reopens for classes on Tuesday, sources in Jaffna said. At a meeting held by the VC of Jaffna University on Monday, student representatives and the university community decided to resume classes from 08 January, after an SL government intimidation was conveyed to them that if classes were not resumed immediately, the university would be declared closed for a year and then even after a year resumption would be doubtful. 

On Jaffna University matters, the SL Education Secretary J.B. Dissanayake was getting direct orders from SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, informed sources said.

Releasing the students under detention, who stood for peaceful and democratic rights of students and of a people, was taken by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as a personal challenge to his power and personality orientated to genocidal statecraft, informed sources further said, adding that there were intimidating bargains behind the screen.

A Jaffna university team met the SL Defence Secretary before meeting the Education Secretary.

The detained students would be released soon after the resumption of classes, the university circles were confident.

Student representatives announced that they would continue their struggle for their democratic rights and for getting the detained students released.

On Monday, the student representatives were allowed to speak to the detained students over the phone. 

The detained students, kept under a ‘rehabilitation’ programme of the genocidal military, were heard advocating for the resumption of classes. But, the university community did not take this seriously as Sri Lanka’s modus operandi on captives, doctors, victims etc., is known to every one. 

Unless the sovereignty and right to self-determination of the nation of Eezham Tamils are not going to be specified and recognized by the world, oppression and human rights violations taking place everyday and continuing infinitely cannot be stopped under the existing State in the island, human rights activists in Jaffna said.

Meanwhile, a group in TNA specialised in legal matters was playing a questionable game in not using even the available avenues in the legal system of the genocidal State in filing suitable cases, the HR activists in Jaffna said. 

The consent of parents is needed in filing such cases and the parents of two students who had come forward to give consent was in favour of TNA filing the cases. As the responsibility was with the TNA and as there were indications that the TNA would file the case, the other parties and civil rights movements kept quiet. But for unknown reasons, the TNA didn’t file the case, the HR activists in Jaffna further said.

Masses march against impeachment - Photos

Masses march against impeachment - Photos

TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2013

The protest march and the rally organized by the People’s Movement for Democracy (PMD) demanding the government to withdraw the impeachment against Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake was held in Colombo yesterday (7th).

A large number of people including lawyers, university lecturers, trade union leaders, members of media institutions, activists of mass organizations and representatives from the JVP participated.
The photographs show instances of the protest march that commenced from Campbell Park.

Documentary evidence on orders to teach Sinhala as second language surfaces

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 January 2013, 23:32 GMT]
Following decisions from the genocidal SL government in Colombo, the Zonal Director of Education in Ki'linochchi, Mr K Murukavel, has sent instructions to 103 Tamil schools in the four education circuits under him, asking the principals to commence teaching Sinhala as second language in grades 4 to 7 in the first phase and to proceed with the same to grades 8 and 9 in the second phase. The ‘language instructors’ are actually from the occupying SL military who come in military uniform to teach Sinhala language. The move breaches all norms of school education, teachers in Ki'linochchi said. In the schools of the island, English is the second language after mother tongue. Now the occupying military is teaching Sinhala as the second language to Tamil children. 

The letter, dated 03 January 2013, has been copied to Provincial Director of Education, Deputy Director of Education and to the Circuit Education Officers of Karaichchi, Ka'ndaava'lai, Poonakari and Pazhai. 

Of the 103 military instructors, only four are females. 

No similar attempts have ever been made to teach Tamil as second language to the Sinhala students. 

A tri-lingual policy has been advocated by the LLRC for the whole of the island as a solution to the national question. But, this recommendation surreptitiously aims at eventual Sinhalicisation, is the opinion of political observers watching the language policy of the genocidal state in Colombo over the last several decades. 

What is happening in Vanni today proves beyond any doubt the ultimate intentions of the genocidal state, the observers said. 

The LLRC-based language policy of the Sri Lankan state was inaugurated in January 2012 by India's former president Abdul Kalam, who eulogised it.

The current circular of the SL education department, together with the list of names of the Sinhala language instructors, follows:

What is genocide attack?

[ Tuesday, 08 January 2013, 02:23.52 AM GMT +05:30 ]

Today we are willing to discuss about genocide attack which shake entire human beings of this region.

This was the day which lead world to work and raise voices against the genocide attacks. This was a history which created awareness among international community and also introduced new international law against the genocide attack. Do you remember what this was? Yes, today we discuss about genocide attack carried out by Hitler in Germany which killed 11 million infants and 60 million Jewish nationals. Sri Lanka 'war crimes'. Sri Lanka’s War Crimes: US Should Not Dance Around UN And UNHRC

Sleepwalking In To An Apocalypse: The Gathering Storm Of Sinhalese – Muslim Strife

By Boz -January 8, 2013 

The Sinhalese-Muslim race riots of 1915 were sparked off by a minor incident but would later snowball in to widespread altercations similarly, what we are seeing  now, culmination of what was simmering beneath surface for the last twenty years ,might very well set the stage for yet another bout of racially motivated violence, implications of which would be far worse than what we had gone through for the last 30 years..
Dalai Lama

  
The Roots

After theIndependencethe relations between Muslims and Sinhalese had been largely cordial, and the Muslims were affiliated with either of two main Sinhalese political parties. What changed this was the LTTE factor, the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Jaffna and savage attacks against Muslims civilians in the East during the late 1980 s. The need for a specifically Muslim political force to address the grievances of Muslims was felt and SLMC was founded with its leader, late Mr. Ashraff gaining star status as a king maker in the mercurial Sri Lankan political scene by the mid 1990 s. Mr. Ashraff and the SLMC gained considerable clout in the East and then came the allegations of bulldozing Deegawaapi and Muslim expansionism in the areas belonging to the ancient Sinhala civilization in the East . One of the most vociferous critics on this count was the late Ven. Soma . Gradually the general Sinhala Buddhist population began to view SLMC and by extension Muslims with apprehension

Social Media Influence

In the recent past websites began to appear targeting Islam, as well as its adherents, slandering them in foulest terms. Allegedly formulated as response to certain Islamic extremist websites, these blogs were inspired by Faithfreedom.com of one Ali Sina, an anti-Islamic activist operating out from the US. Add to this in social media , especially in the Facebook, where Sri Lankans have a rather large presence , pages such as Sorry.com with their chilling graphics and slanderous articles grew in prominence by the day, creating vitriolic anti Muslim sentiments among the Sinhalese ,especially in those belonging to the middle class.

Further there are appeals to boycott popular businesses such as No Limit belonging to Muslims made via Facebook and mass circulation e-mails.

The Halal Issue

Another topic that gained prominence recently was the anti Halal campaign where  Non Muslims were asked  to boycott Halal products. There are allegations from some quarters that large sums paid to obtain Halal certificate are then being used to fund Muslim expansionism including building of mosques and therefore non-Muslims do not have contribute to  Halal certificate costs which are included in to the product price. While ACJU, responsible for issuing Halal certificate ,clarified their stance in a recent statement , the campaign lingers , increasingly becoming popular among Sinhalese moderates as well.

Law College Entrance Exam controversy

There was a recent allegation that the Law College Entrance exam was rigged in favor of Muslim students. Comparisons with the results of the previous years showed an abnormal propensity towards Muslim students who sat for the exam in both English and Tamil streams. Further three top places went to Muslim students as well. Police is now investigating whether the question paper was leaked through a certain tuition class in Wellawatte . This consequently motivated many Sinhalese moderates to reconsider their position vis-à-vis alleged Islamic threat.

Bodu Bala Senaa

Bodu Bala Senaa is a recent manifestation modeled on Shiv Sena of India ,comprised of ultra nationalist Buddhist monks and lay people. The stated aim of the this organization is to cleanse the Buddhism in Sri Lanka of what it names as charlatans and also to act as a bulwark against “threats” against Sinhala Buddhist polity. At times it acts as a vigilante force ,a religious police. Bodu Bala Senaa too is instrumental in fomenting anti Islamic sentiment citing expansionist fears.

The Usual Suspects

Like Captain Louis Renault ,various analysts are trying to round up the usual suspects of this latest bout of racialism. Some ,if not all, liberal and even Muslim commentators lay the blame squarely at the feet of the ruling party. According to them the Government is directly responsible for these actions by creating a diversion for the majority Sinahlese Buddhists from economic and political woes contributing to the unpopularity of the government. However for obvious reasons this theory looks hollow , for the government would be shooting itself on foot if it is indeed promoting anti Muslim sentiments at  the expense of the national unity as, facing an uphill battle come March at the UNHRC it needs the votes of Islamic nations like the last time, cheap oil from Iran as well as it has to maintain the cash cow of foreign remittances , lion’s share of which comes from the emigrant workers in the Middle East region. Some pro-Government analysts claim that this is all a Western conspiracy to create divisions and paving the way for another Syria. This too looks far fetched given geo political equations .

However there might be some Sinhalese businessman fearful of Muslim dominance in retail clothing trade behind the calls for boycott of Muslim businesses. Closest to what we are seeing in Sri Lanka today is the anti Semitism in the Europe of last century that paved the way for racial stereotypes and catastrophe. However if the present trend is not arrested we can look forward to further blood letting and international stigmatization and grave economic and social consequences.

Therefore it’s incumbent upon government to look in to the grievances of both Muslims and Buddhists and take corrective actions if any injustices were occurred  so there would be no more slogans for religious fanatics like Bodu Bala Senaa or the Jihadists. Further the Government should aggressively pursue offenders who strive to drive a wedge between communities via social media and e-mail campaigns .

Separate divisional secretariat to Akkaraiyan when will get originated?

Tuesday , 08 January 2013

People from Akkarayan are querying whether Akkarayan located in Kilinochchi district, will acquire a separate divisional secretariat at least from this year.

 

From year 2010, the resettlements began and parliament members, state hierarchies and many are having the belief that a separate divisional secretariat will get inaugurate in Akkaraiyan.

 

Towards this allocation, a land is identified.  The Akkaraiyan divisional secretariat will get originated along with 12 villages,  in the name of Kaaraichchi east was stated.

 

One thousand 652 persons from 462 families in Vannerikulam, one thousand 169 persons from 375 families in Anaivilunthaan, one thousand 200 persons from 350 families from Kannagaipuram, two thousand 440 persons from 779 families from Skanthapuram, two thousand 170 persons from 660 families from Akkaraiyan, three thousand 395 persons from one thousand 34 families from Konavil, one thousand 621 persons from 489 families from Uruthirapuram north, one thousand 215 persons from 419 families in the Uruthirapuram east, one thousand 215 persons from 410 families from Uruthirapuram west, one thousand 206 persons from 402 families from Sivanagar, one thousand 309 persons from 403 families from Oottrupulam, one thousand 732 persons from 450 families from Puthumurippu, totally 20 thousand 32 persons from 6 thousand 224 families, a separate divisional secretariat should be originated for Akkaraiyan was a request made by the people living in this locality.

The death of the female prisoner who was held in prison for 19 years

Tuesday, 08 January 2013

The death of the female prisoner who was held in prison for 19 years, is a testimony to the arrogance of the government and impotence of the Tamil parties within the government - Mano Ganesan

Mano Ganesan, the Leader of the Democratic People’s Front said that ‘the lamentable death of Kaathai Muththusamy, a 68 year-old female of the Adawaththa Estate, Lunugala in Badulla, who died yesterday after a long illness while in prison is proof enough for the arrogance and ignorance of the government on the Tamil political prisoners issue. It is also due to the indolence and impotence of the plantation leadership, which is in the lap of the ruling party. Muththusamy was arrested in 1994 for allegedly helping LTTE rebels and was sentenced to prison’

Mano Ganesan urged that Tamil people should question those so-called Tamil ministers with the regalia within the government.

Ganesan made the above remarks on the death of the 68 year old female Tamil political prisoner in Welikada prisons, Colombo.

The leader of the DPF further said as follows:

‘Varatharaja, son of the diseased lady told me that his mother was arrested in 1994 for charges that she helped LTTE transportation between Batticaloa and Badulla and provided safe house to LTTE cadres of Batticaloa. She faced legal proceedings while in custody for a long time and then she was sentenced. While she was in jail she suffered from cancer, which she developed during her confinement. She was also inflicted with bed sores as she had been bedridden for a long period without proper medical attention. The 68 year old Kaaththaai who was behind bars almost for two decades died yesterday in the Colombo general hospital.

‘Ironically, the most active Batticaloa leader of the LTTE is now in the cradle of the government with portfolios. And many active LTTE rebels from the East have become darlings of the government. Moreover, Thamilini who was the active head of the LTTE female squad has been released from prison custody by the Colombo magistrate on the recommendation of the Attorney General’s Department and is presently taking vocational training in a rehabilitation center to become a bridal dresser. However, an old poor plantation worker woman had to suffer a terrible death in prison at the age 68 for just helping the same LTTE.

Apart from her very old age, she was also suffering from a dreaded illnesses. But it did not spur the Tamil ministers who represent the plantations in the government to try and get an amnesty from the president by citing her age or deteriorating physical conditions.

‘The president has granted a general amnesty for many prisoners who had been charged with more serious crimes. He has the authority to do so by law. There are near 1,000 Tamil political prisoners in the country today. There are women with their in-born children detained. There are sick and elders. If it is not possible to get general amnesty for all the Tamil detainees of political nature, the sick, women with children and elders must be considered for general amnesty. But, neither the government nor the Tamil ministers did not bother to care.

‘The Tamil politicians in the government recently spoke like rebels on the issues of the controversial 13th amendment and Divineguma bill. But at the end they sided with the government. It is no surprise to me. No tamil and Muslim leader can act politically within this government. I call upon them to stop the useless political oratory and at least pressurize their government leadership on the humanitarian issues of those Tamils who are living. I am not asking them give life to the dead. The issue number one of those who are living today is the issue of the Tamil political prisoners. They are rotting in prisons for years and dying of disease and old age.’

Student remembrance triggers Tamil rebirth

PHIL MILLER and ANDY HIGGINBOTTOM 8 January 2013

Strong geostrategic interests in the Indian Ocean may tacitly have condemned the Tamils of Sri Lanka to death on a massive scale in the 2009 aerial bombing of civilans, and ensuing post-war government repression. Recent social movement action in Jaffna shows a groundswell of resistance, but will the world take notice?

On 27 November, students at Jaffna University lit a lamp in the womens’ dormitory. Their simple act of commemoration unwittingly sparked events that have unfolded into the most significant confrontation with the Sri Lankan state since the massacre of Tamils in May 2009.

The lamps were to remember as heroes those Tamils who gave their lives fighting for ‘Eelam’, an independent homeland in the north and east of the island. Sri Lankan soldiers were already on standby outside before they forced entry to the hostel, attacked the students and extinguished their lamps. The next day state force broke up a sit-down protest on the university campus, attacking two journalists and injuring twenty students. 

The BBC reported the army’s claim that the students provoked them by throwing stones, but eyewitnesses report a different sequence of events – stones were only thrown in self-defense after the students were set upon. Over the next two weeks up to 50 Tamil students and youth across the Jaffna peninsula were rounded up. Four student leaders were processed at the Joint Services Special Operations (JOSSOP) camp in Vavuniyaa, notorious as a torture centre, and are now in the Welikanda military detention camp where former LTTE Tamil Tiger rebels are detained and interrogated.

The students are held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which allows Defence Minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (who is the President’s brother) to order suspects’ detention for eighteen months.  Rajapaksa claims that the Jaffna students are in custody for ‘rehabilitation and counselling’. However, as the crackdown spread, Amnesty International issued an urgent actionexpressing their concern that several students “are held incommunicado, putting them at much greater risk of torture.”

Sri Lanka has occupied territory formerly held by the LTTE with a saturation presence of one soldier for every five residents. Despite the risks, the students’ symbolic act of defiance has been supported by a wave of social movement protest. Lecturers at Jaffna University went on strike for half a day and havedemonstrated their support. The student body is boycotting classes indefinitely.  Tamil students in the UK and in six other countries coordinated emergency vigils on 4 December and marched on Downing Street on Saturday, 22 December.

At time of publishing (8 January) the students have not been released. Worse, the Sri Lankan state has targeted those Tamil civil society and political opposition groups who protested the students’ detention. Jaffna University’s Vice Chancellor has told staff they must not speak to the press and the Sri Lankan military are pressing students to break the boycott.

The Tamil diaspora is pressing for Sri Lanka’s massacre of their relatives three years ago to be recognised as a genocide. The UN’s own Petrie reportrecognises that it was wrong to pull out from the conflict area in September 2008 just as the government’s offensive was entering its final lethal phase of shelling civilians; and that in the first months of 2009 senior officials suppressed reports from their own aid workers of civilian casualties. By March 2009 they knew that five thousand Tamils had already been killed. The report notes (para 63) that the UN’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide raised concerns but “favoured quiet diplomacy and told the [Sri Lankan] Government he would ‘not speak out’.”  By this point excessive pragmatism turned into an outright betrayal.

The brutal crackdown on commemoration ceremonies shows that the Sri Lankan regime is determined to eliminate any collective memory of genocide. At the end of May 2009 Tamil deaths had reached tens of thousands, estimates range from 30,000 to 140,000.

There is reason to believe that the UN's treachery was not just an institutional cock-up, but symptomatic of an even more worrying conspiracy between major powers to finish off the Tamil Tigers, no matter what the cost in civilian lives.

The island’s location makes Sri Lanka a prime target for the US and Chinaseeking control of the Indian Ocean’s sea lanes. These geo-strategic implications were first pointed out by the Tamil analyst Dharmeratnam Sivaram, then by Robert Kaplan in the neo-conservative US journal Foreign Affairs.

Rival powers in the UN Security Council are all courting favour with the Rajapaksa government. Evidence to the ‘Peoples Tribunal on Sri Lanka’ held in Dublin argued even further that the US in particular deliberately collapsed the Norwegian brokered peace process that had lasted from 2002 to 2006. In this crucial period, rather than holding out for a negotiated settlement, the EU fell in line with a military solution and, under UK prompting, banned the LTTE as a ‘terrorist organisation’ whilst continuing to arm the Sri Lankan regime. The claim that international actors scuppered the peace process is in sharp variance with the standard interpretation, as for example the evaluation commissioned by Norad, which highlights the intransigence of the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE.

Certainly, it is not only the UN that is now turning a blind eye to the genocide and its aftermath of military occupation. The UK government is pushing ahead with a controversial deportation program of failed asylum seekers to Sri Lanka. It is already well documented by several human rights groups that people returned to Sri Lanka have been tortured. The UK Border Agency’s own policy bulletin notes (para 4.1) that the Sri Lankan “government has stopped investigating cases of torture as a matter of policy, and since 2009 no cases have been investigated or prosecuted”.

Yet the UK Border Agency has increased the frequency of its deportation flights to Sri Lanka.  On 23 October, the Guardian reported that last ditch legal efforts successfully saved a number of Tamils from deportation; but nonetheless the flight went ahead. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence boasts that 28 deported asylum seekers arrived on the flight to Colombo. The latest flight on 6 December saw 25 more Tamils deported. These flights should stop immediately.

By sending refugees back to torture by their persecutors, the UK is intimidating Tamils from speaking openly about their past and their continuing aspiration for Tamil Eelam. Yet all the signs are that neither in Jaffna nor in the diaspora will the Tamils be silenced. The real question is who will join them?

Sri Lankan protesters find the cricket world gets spooky

Trevor Grant-January 8, 2013

As a journalist for 43 years in the jockstrap departments of The Age and the Herald Sun, I was rarely in touch with the realities of the world beyond the dressing room and press box.

About the only time in my sports writing career that I was ever spooked was at VFL Park, Waverley, when a naked Carl Ditterich, the then-balding, one-time blond bombshell of VFL football, chased me out of the Melbourne dressing room, shouting my name in a rather uncomplimentary manner.

But it was nothing compared with what happened last week in Sydney when I was part of a rally to protest against the Sri Lankan cricket team, which, I believe, is used to launder the blood-stained image of the Rajapaksa regime in Sri Lanka.

As I was peacefully going about my business, handing out leaflets to the crowd on the opening day of the Test match, I noticed a small, thin man of Sri Lankan or Indian appearance dressed in a dark suit, blue shirt and dark sunglasses, taking photographs of me.

I was curious because it was obvious he wasn't a press photographer. Not only because he was dressed so neatly, but because when I moved towards him, he ran away and tried to hide behind a large Moreton Bay fig tree in the park adjacent the Sydney Cricket Ground.

He then started taking very detailed, close-up shots of the words on placards that had been spread along the edges of the park. When I came towards him again, he raced away to his hiding spot, where I watched him skulk around in the shadows with another tall, well-built, bald man, also dressed in a dark suit and dark sunglasses.

A third man dressed in dark suit and tie also appeared, taking shots of us with an expensive-looking camera.

My Australian-Tamil friend, Kartheeban Arul, from the Sydney branch of the Tamil Youth Organisation, tells me that this is a regular occurrence whenever Tamils attend a protest in Australia that is directed at the Sri Lankan government. He says the Tamil community is convinced these men work for the Sri Lankan embassy. Their job is to provide identification of Tamil protesters, which is used by government security agents to harass friends and relatives back in Sri Lanka.

It was the second time in as many protests that I saw this stalking and intimidation.

When I started out on this new journey, I wasn't prepared to believe that I would become a target for the intelligence branch of a foreign government. It is spooky to know that a government that has been accused of horrific crimes against its own people, including the murder and disappearance of 39 journalists in the past eight years, now has me in their sights.

A few days after I wrote an opinion piece in this newspaper last month, a column that argued for a boycott of the Sri Lankan cricket team by the Australian government and Cricket Australia, a man claiming to be a ''concerned citizen'' rang me on my mobile phone.

He said I had grossly misrepresented Sri Lanka and the government treatment of the Tamils. He said it was obvious I was being seduced by terrorists. He wanted to meet me to explain the error of my ways.

I met him for a coffee and he spoke at length to me about the wonderful place Sri Lanka had become since President Rajapaksa had killed off the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) and ended the civil war. He offered to arrange a trip for me to see all this peace and serenity for myself.

He seemed more knowledgeable about the Sri Lankan government than the average ''concerned citizen''. I didn't have to guess any more about his links when he produced from a wad of papers a document headed: ''English translation of the document recovered from a LTTE hideout in Wanni by security forces during humanitarian operations''.

It purported to be a document showing that a prominent Tamil activist in Australia was a member of the Tamil Tigers. I have spoken to the person whose full personal details are contained in the document. The person claims it is a fraud.

This world of spooks is something I thought was exaggerated by media influenced by too many James Bond movies. Now I know it is reality, and I wonder why our government allows it.

I recently sent a letter to Foreign Minister Bob Carr asking whether he thought it was appropriate for officials from a foreign embassy to photograph Australian citizens in this manner, and other questions.

Until I get some answers I will believe that life beyond the uncomplicated world of sport is too spooky by half.

Trevor Grant is a former chief cricket writer at The Age, and now works with Boycott Sri Lanka Cricket Campaign and Refugee Action Collective.

Rajapaksa men stalk Australian protesters

Saturday, 05 January 2013 

Melbourne, Friday – Sri Lankan Government operatives have been intimidating peaceful protesters at Test cricket matches in Melbourne and Sydney, according to the BSLCC.

Boycott Sri Lanka Cricket Campaign (BSLCC) organiser, Trevor Grant, said today that Sri Lankan men armed with cameras and video equipment had been stalking and filming people while they protested at the MCG and SCG in the past two weeks.

“I was walking along Moore Park Road in Sydney by myself after handing out leaflets outside the SCG when I noticed a Sri Lankan man from about 50 metres away in the park taking photographs of me. I went towards him and he ran away to try to hide behind a big tree,” Grant said.

“I also saw him taking close up photographs of protest signs. I went to approach him again but he kept moving away and seeking shelter behind the tree in the park.

“He had another taller, well-built Sri Lankan man with him. They were also lurking in the distance taking video film of other protesters, including the group of Tamils there.

“ They were both well-dressed and obviously collecting evidence for their Government. There is no way they were press members because they wouldn’t identify themselves when I approached, preferring to skulk in the shadows of the big trees.

Grant said that when one of the Tamil-Australians in the crowd saw them away in the distance he yelled out to them: “Stop hiding and come and take my picture, I’m not afraid of you guys,” Grant said.

Tamil Youth Organisation spokesman Kartheeban Arul said it was a well-known tactic of the Rajapaksa regime to collect evidence of people who protest against his government and then use it in various ways to intimidate people.

“They are usually from the embassy and they do it all the time. They send the film back to Sri Lankan intelligence and then they will harass and even jail and torture relatives of the protesters,” he said. “But the Tamil people are determined not to be intimidated. We are protesting to tell the world about this ruthless, murderous regime and by doing this sort of thing they are doing our job for us.

“It seems a bit of a contradiction, though, that people acting on behalf of a brutal dictator are allowed to intimidate and stalk Australian citizens under the noses of Australian police who are there monitoring very closely the movements of our peaceful protests.”

Grant said that when they kept filming him he went towards them again to try to take pictures of them. “I yelled to the guy ‘How would you like this sent back to police and have your relatives put in jail? He replied to me: ‘No worry. My relatives are all here now,’,” Grant said.

The stalking tactics were also employed at the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne. Two Sri Lankan men were filming the protests, one a stills photographer who admitted he was working for the Sri Lankan embassy and another with a video camera on a tripod who was dressed immaculately in a finely-cut suit and tie.

A Tamil-Australian protester approached the stills photographer and objected to what he was doing on behalf of the Sri Lankan Government. The photographer said: “I’m just doing a job. I really understand what you people have been through.”

Grant said these tactics were straight out of the Rajapaksa regime’s handbook but the group had been buoyed by the very positive reaction to the protests so far and would not be deterred.

“We live in a democracy and you are entitled to take photos and film people in a public place but this is clearly intimidation and there are laws against such things,” Grant said.

“The protests so far against the touring Sri Lankan cricket team have been very well-received. This team is being used to launder the image of a vicious regime. We will be continuing the rallies during the one-day and 20/20 series up until the end of January.

”Why would we stop when 66 per cent of readers in a Melbourne newspaper poll agreed that Sri Lanka should be banned from world cricket? ”

For further information contact Boycott Sri Lanka Cricket Campaign (BSLCC) – Trevor Grant (0400 597 351).