Omar Mateen 'should have been killed before he killed'

The father of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen tells Channel 4 News it would have been better if he had been shot dead before he went on his killing rampage at a gay nightclub.

Seddique Mateen criticised security at Pulse nightclub in Florida and said the police had taken too long to end the three-hour siege.

TUESDAY 14 JUNE 2016

"When there is a club, a social club, why doesn't that social club provide security? The security should have acted better," he told Washington Correspondent Kylie Morris.

Asked if his son should have been killed before he shot dead 49 people, he said: "Yes, because anybody breaks the law, that person intends to kill other people, they should be killed. It doesn't matter who."

Mr Mateen, who is from Afghanistan but lives in the US, added: "Why did the police take so much time? 

They should have come quick, they should have used gas to just knock him out and get hold of him. This was something that crossed my mind, that it could have been prevented much better."

Off-duty police officer Adam Gruler exchanged fire with Omar Mateen outside Pulse as the killing spree was beginning, but was forced to call for back-up, sparking the siege.

Act of terror

Seddique Mateen said he accepted his son had been responsible for the deaths and would never forgive him. "I know my son did an act of terror to kill people and I'll never forgive him. He was 100 per cent wrong.

"I'm very sad and upset and mad about those people that lost their loved ones, the 50 people and also those 52 who got injured. They are my family because this act happened in the United States and we consider each oher like a family, a close family. I was really shocked why Omar did what he did."

Mr Mateen said he had not known Omar had visited Pulse on previous occasions. "I don't know anything, this is news to me. I didn't know about this. I wish I did know his intention, I could have stopped him."

Referring to his previous comment that Omar had been shocked by the sight of two gay men kissing in Miami, his father said: "He wasn't shocked, just a normal reaction, just seeing two guys in front of that bunch of kids and a woman, kissing each other. They could have picked another spot, I guess."

Freedom of choice

Asked if there was anything wrong with two men kissing, he said: "I have no problem or issue with that one. Everybody has his own freedom. The United States is a country where everybody has freedom of choice."

Mr Mateen was also asked to comment on his remark that it was up to God to decide if people should be punished for their homosexuality. He replied: "What I meant was no human being can judge another human being, so an affair of a person gets judged by the creator. God is the one who knows what to do, to punish or reward someone. So as a human, I have no say. Based on the current situation, everybody has his own freedom of choice."

He said his son had been "given a gun legally" by the security company he worked for and that it was wrong he had also been able to buy a semi-automatic weapon.

"I'm anti-gun, i'm against anybody getting a gun. Why do you want to get a gun?, I never had one and I would never want to touch a gun."

Obama lashes out at Trump, says using the phrase ‘radical Islam’ is ‘not a strategy’

Here is President Obama's full speech after he met with his national security team in the wake of the shooting at an Orlando nightclub. (Reuters)

By David Nakamura June 14 at 2:25 PM

An angry President Obama on Tuesday lashed out at Republicans, and particularly Donald Trump, who have called him soft on terrorism, warning that “loose talk” about Muslims has harmed the United States’ campaign against militant groups in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Obama challenged the demand by his critics that he characterize acts of terrorism, including the mass shooting in Orlando, as the work of  “radical Islam” — a phrase the president has refused to use because he believes it unfairly implicates an entire religious group for the acts of militant extremists.

[Read the complete transcript of Obama's remarks]

A day earlier, Trump used the phrase to question Obama’s commitment to stopping terrorist acts, including the Orlando shooting, by saying the president refuses to define the enemy.

“That’s the key, they tell us. We can’t get ISIL unless we call them ‘radical Islamists,’ ” Obama said, referring to the Islamic State militant group after meeting with his National Security Council at the Treasury Department to discuss the administration's counterterrorism strategy. “What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is, none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction.”

The president added: “There’s no magic to the phrase, ‘radical Islam.’ It’s a political talking point; it’s not a strategy.”

[Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting]

The remarks were Obama’s most forceful rebuttal to Trump since the real estate mogul became the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. Though he did not mention Trump by name, Obama lambasted his proposals to ban all Muslims from immigrating to the United States and challenged Republican leaders to reject his demagoguery.

“We are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be. We are starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we are fighting, where this can lead us,” Obama said. Trump, he said, “singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop?”

Trump responded in an email to the Associated Press that Obama “claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people.”

The slaying of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday by a shooter who purportedly was inspired by the Islamic State has quickly become a political flashpoint in the 2016 campaign. The massacre represented the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history and has thrust issues of terrorism, gun control and national security to the forefront of the nation’s political debate just as the campaign has begun to shift into a general election contest between Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

[Trump and Clinton and their very different responses to the Orlando shootings]

Clinton, the former secretary of state, said Monday that she was not afraid to use the phrase “radical Islam,” but she did not fault Obama for not using it, and said the actions to fight terrorism was more important than the rhetoric.

Obama emphasized that Omar Mateen, the alleged Orlando gunman, was born in the United States, as was one of the perpetrators in the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., in December and the gunman at a mass shooting at the Fort Hood military installation in Texas in 2014.

As he has in the past, the president warned that using inflamed rhetoric about Muslims and Islam threatens to play into the motives of terrorist groups that use propaganda to portray a U.S. war against Islam and recruit new members.

“That’s not the America we want,” said Obama, who will travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay respects to the victims and their families. “It does not reflect our democratic ideals. It won’t make us more safe, it will make us less safe, fueling ISIL’s notion that the West hates Muslims, making young Muslims in this country and around the world feel like, no matter what they do, they’re going to be under suspicion and under attack.”

The president added that such rhetoric “betrays the very values America stands for. We have gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear, and we came to regret it. We have seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens, and it has been a shameful part of our history.”

But Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), a member of the Homeland Security Committee, took issue with Obama in a written statement. “You’re wrong,” he said. “Telling the truth about violent Islam is a prerequisite to a strategy — a strategy you admitted you don’t have. It is the Commander-in-Chief’s duty to actually identify our enemies and to help the American people understand the challenge of violent Islam.”

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Obama “still doesn’t have a plan to defeat ISIS.  The White House’s inaction and ineptness allowed these radical Islamist terrorists to spread across Syria, Iraq and Libya."

The president spoke after meeting with his national security advisers for an update on the campaign against the Islamic State, part of a series of meetings outside the White House he started last year as a way of bringing more attention to the issue. Summarizing a largely positive review after the closed-door session, he provided no new details, but said that the “campaign at this stage is firing on all cylinders and as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before.”

On the military front, Obama noted that it has been a year since the Islamic State has been able to mount a major successful offensive operation and that it has lost nearly half the territory it once controlled in Iraq. Since he last offered a major public assessment two months ago, Obama said, he has authorized additional U.S. resources, including raising the number of Special Forces troops in Syria from 50 to 300, and providing more money and assets to Iraq in preparation for a long-delayed offensive against the militant stronghold of Mosul.

The Islamic State’s “morale is sinking,” Obama said, with new constraints on both its resources and ability to recruit. “ISIL is now effectively cut off from the international financial system,” he said. With new international cooperation, “our intelligence community now assesses that the ranks of ISIL fighters has been reduced to the lowest level in more than two and a half years.”

Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.

FBI to investigate if Orlando gunman's sexuality was a motive in shooting

Officials indicated they would follow up on reports that shooter Omar Mateen had visited Pulse nightclub before the attack and used an LGBT dating app

Disentangling Omar Mateen’s motivations in the Orlando shooting, at this point a major focus of the inquiry, is likely to be a complicated task. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

 Two women comfort each other as they visit a memorial to honor the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Spencer Ackerman in New York and Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington-Tuesday 14 June 2016

The FBI has told members of the LGBT community it will pursue accounts that the Orlando nightclub shooter was partially motivated by internal conflict over his own sexuality, the Guardian has learned.

A conference call held late on Monday pulled together representatives from the FBI and departments of justice and homeland security with 358 civil-rights-minded leaders, particularly from the LGBT and American Muslim groups, a senior US official told the Guardian, to share information and hear concerns from communities reeling from one of the worst incidents of gun violence in recent US history.

FBI officials on the call “indicated they would follow up” on reports that shooter Omar Mateen had on a number of occasions visited the LGBT nightclub Pulse where he killed 49 and wounded 52 on Sunday. That focus is thus far unprecedented in nearly 15 years of post-9/11 counter-terrorism, which has yet to confront a known case of a suspected closeted LGBT individual ostensibly committing a mass murder in the name of a homophobic terrorist organization.

According to a readout of the call, the Department of Homeland Security also said it was receiving “reports of anecdotal backlash from Muslim-American, Sikh, South Asian and Arab-American communities”. The US official said that on the call, Muslim leaders expressed “condolences and significant support” for LGBT communities in Orlando and beyond.

As the FBI continued to sift through evidence on Tuesday, Mateen’s second wife told investigators she attempted to dissuade him from his Sunday attack on revelers at Pulse, according to NBC.

In a statement in Washington, Barack Obama said there was as of yet no indication that Mateen had any ties or support from any terrorist group.

Officials close to the investigation note that unlike traveling to Iraq or Syria, there is no barrier to claiming inspiration from Isis, even as a pretext.

Disentangling Mateen’s motivations, at this point a major focus of the inquiry, is likely to be a complicated task, one that does not resemble the straightforward ideological drivers familiar to years of terror inquiries.

The FBI described the Orlando attack as an act of terrorism by midday Sunday, an unusually rapid assessment. Evidence supporting the claim came from a 911 phone call Mateen placed in which he declared allegiance to Isis, and because the FBI had previously interviewed him on three occasions in 2013 and 2014. The bureau had even watch-listed him for much of 2013 but ultimately determined any connection to terror was insubstantial and did not consider him a threat.

New information has complicated that initial assessment. Several attendees of the Pulse nightclub have said Mateen was a frequent, often belligerent, presence. “He was a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men,” one told the Associated Press. A police academy classmate said Mateen had asked him out, and the two attended LGBT clubs together, though he considered Mateen closeted. He was abusive to his former spouse, a woman, was married to another woman at the time of the slayings, and is said to have maintained a profile on an LGBT dating app.

Orlando gunman Omar Mateen was a regular at Pulse, says nightclubber

Additionally, Mateen’s tenuous terror ties raise questions about his adherence to a virulent religious-based ideology.

He had falsely boasted in 2013, and again on the pre-shooting 911 call, ofconnections to the Boston Marathon bombers. On the 911 call, according to the FBI director, James Comey, Mateen expressed sympathy with terrorist groups of opposing ideologies and goals, from the Shia Hezbollah to the Salafist Isis and al-Qaida, all of which are at war with one another. He is said to have enrolled in online courses taught by a homophobic imam.

In his statement on Tuesday, Obama called Mateen an “angry, disturbed and unstable young man” who absorbed “extremist information and propaganda over the internet”.

Homophobia and jihadism are anything but mutually exclusive. Isis executes people it says are gay, stones them and throws them from roofs. But Seamus Hughes, a former congressional homeland-security staffer who studies extremism at George Washington University, said he could not think of a previous known case of a closeted individual committing an act of domestic terrorism after claiming affinity with a jihadist militant group.

“It appears to be a unique case, at least in the recent American jihadi context,” Hughes said.

Obama, who on Sunday called the mass shooting an “act of terror and an act of hate”, challenged Congress to reinstate the pre-1994 assault weapons ban after conferring with his national security council at the treasury department.

“Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Be tough on terrorism,” Obama said.

Obama also ridiculed what he called the “political distraction” that using the nebulous phrase “radical Islam” to describe Isis and related US adversaries would provide counter-terrorism advantages. Obama has faced repeated criticism from Republicans, including Trump and other former presidential candidates, over his refusal to identify the threat posed by Isis and other extremist groups as “radical Islam”.

“The reason I am careful has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with defeating extremism,” an angry Obama said, before calling out the Republican presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, over his proposal for banning on Muslim immigration to the United States.

“We are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be,” Obama said.

“Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, the San Bernardino killer, the Fort Hood killer – they were all US citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to subject them to special surveillance? … Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that’s not the America we want.”

Dalai Lama: Those Who Cause Bloodshed Are Not “Genuine” Practitioners of Islam

BY MEGAN ALPERT-JUNE 13, 2016

The days after a mass shooting in the United States have become a national ritual of helpless grief and anger. On Monday, the Dalai Lama joined the conversation by urging a Washington audience to build a world without violence — a topic that is even more prescient after early Sunday’s massacre in Orlando, Florida, which killed 50 people celebrating LGBT pride in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

The Dalai Lama believes that a lasting peace is best achieved by empowering young people. As part of that, he told his audience at the U.S. Institute of Peace, people must approach and befriend others from different backgrounds and religions, and voiced skepticism about the effects of prayer if it is not coupled with “serious action.”

Asked about the Orlando shootings, the Dalai Lama said when people create bloodshed they are “no longer a genuine practitioner of Islam.” He added, “The very meaning of jihad is not harming others, but to combat your own destructive emotion.”


He called the “sad event” in Orlando a symptom of a larger problem of a “self-centered attitude” that creates a “lack of a sense of oneness of human brothers and sisters.”

But he also criticized U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, saying many problems in the region could be traced to the U.S. response to the 9/11 terror attacks. “American military power,” he said, “easily can crush. But American military power cannot change others’ mind or emotion.”

In May, the Tibetan Buddhist leader held a conference in Dharamsala with 28 youth leaders from areas of conflict or violence around the world. Soukaina Hamia, one of the youth leaders who was there, has for years sought to change the minds of vulnerable youth in Morocco to prevent them from turning to terrorism. After terrorist bombings in Casablanca in 2003 and 2007, she began working at a new cultural center in Sidi Moumen, the city’s largest slum, and where all of the attackers in the two blasts had lived.

Hamia, who is now the deputy director of the center, saw a connection between the lack of opportunities for youth and terrorist acts. Before her center opened, vulnerable youth in Sid Moumen had no outlet to express themselves. “They don’t have a sense of belonging, that they are citizens, that they are Moroccans, so it was their way to maybe make the world hear them,” she told Foreign Policy.

When events like the Orlando shootings happen, she tries to process the events with the youth at her center, which she said can be difficult for people from conservative backgrounds who are not used to thinking or talking about LGBT people’s rights.

“What we do is we focus more on the human factor,” she said. “People use religion as a pretext to justify their acts, but [violence] it is an act against religion.”

Speaking of the Orlando shootings, she added: “It doesn’t matter if you are Muslim or not, this is an act against humanity.”

This story has been updated. 

Photo credit: United States Institute of Peace/YouTube

Teenagers' escape from Indian spinning mill prompts crackdown on labour abuses

This Picture Shows Army Candidates in India Made to Strip to Take Entrance Exam

BY ANURADHA NAGARAJ-Tue Jun 14, 2016

CHENNAI, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Tamil Nadu has launched a crackdown on factories violating labour laws after two teenage girls scaled a wall to escape from a spinning mill where they were forced to work 12-hour shifts and subjected to abuse, officials said.

A women-led trade union, which represent female garment workers in the state, said the girls were found unconscious on Sunday on a highway near the mill where they scaled a 14-foot wall before falling on to thorny bushes.

"But because of excessive bleeding they became unconscious and were found two hours later by residents from nearby villagers," the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union said in a report.

It said the girls were forced to work overtime, banned from contacting family or studying. They were also pushed and shoved as they worked, the report said.

A senior local official said an investigation had been ordered into the incident with the state labour department initiating a drive to check working conditions in mills across western Tamil Nadu, a hub for India's $42 billion-a-year textile and clothing export industry.

"The district administration will inspect all mills to ensure that the girls are being paid directly and there is no exploitation," the official from the state labour department, said requesting anonymity.

Officials at the spinning mill did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Activists said the incident highlights the poor working conditions of textile workers, particularly those trapped in bonded labour - forced to work for little or no money to pay off loans, advances on their salary or recruitment fees.

Mills mainly hire young girls, offering 30,000 rupees to 60,000 rupees ($450 to $900) to their families for three years' work under so-called "Sumangali" schemes with the money paid at the end of the fixed term.

But former workers say they often do not receive the full amount because of deductions for their food and lodging.

A 2014 study into Tamil Nadu's textile industry found workers were also often subjected to low wages, excessive and sometimes forced overtime requirements, lack of freedom of movement as well as verbal and sexual abuse.

"Different studies and numerous documented case studies reveal repeated stories of exploitation of the adolescents in various forms in textile sector," said R Paritha, president of the textile union, said in a statement.

S James Victor, advisor with the textile union, criticised a lack of progress over working conditions for textile workers.

"Nothing is changing," Victor told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Last week, six children were rescued from a mill in Coimbatore and produced before the child welfare committee.

"These cases are making it to the public domain, many more are not."

($1 = 67.1760 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Anuradha Nagaraj, Editing by Katie Nguyen; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)

These Treatments Could Help Everything From OCD To Parkinson’s

The targeted approach focuses on sending electrical jolts to the nervous system.

Rahel Gebreyes- 06/14/2016

Treatments using targeted electricity have helped scientists find new ways to help people with neurological disorders over the past two decades.

The treatments, known as neuromodulation, have been effective in medical methods, such as deep brain stimulation. Patients are fitted with a “brain pacemaker” that sends electric jolts to neurons in the brain to ease mobility issues and help control patients’ tremors.

“You put implants into the brain to treat Parkinson’s or tremor[s] and this technology is also being used to treat migraine headaches, cluster headaches and a whole range of other conditions,” said Ali Rezai, the director of the Center for Neuromodulation at The Ohio State University. 

In the latest episode of HuffPost’s science series, “Talk Nerdy To Me,” host Karah Preiss delves into neuromodulation and discusses how the targeted therapy could treat a wide range of problems like obsessive compulsive disorder, epilepsy, depression and addiction. 

Check out the video above to hear why Rezai is so hopeful about the new treatments. 

This video was produced by Liz Martinez, Adriane Giebel and Karah Preiss, shot by Terence Krey, Mike Caravella, Steven Gatti, Ian MacInnes and JR Cronheim and edited by Adriane Giebel.

ISSUES OF RECONCILIATION IN SRI LANKA: RESPOND QUICKLY, SAMPANTHAN TELLS GOVT

12/06/2016

( Image: A Tamil woman worshiping- AP Photo -Eranga Jayawardena)

“Seven years have elapsed since the end of the armed conflict in the country.

Several hundred thousands of Tamils and others were displaced from their original places of residence in the North and the East during the period of the said armed conflict.

Unambiguous assurances were given by His Excellency the President and others that displaced people would be resettled in their original places. This was stated to be the definite policy of the new Government.

Large numbers of those persons are still prevented from returning to their original homes and to their lands and resuming their livelihood activities/ occupation, primarily due to the fact that the military continues to occupy their lands or due to the fact that though the land is not used, the military has not released the land.

Issues of Reconciliation in Sri Lanka Respond Quickly, Sampanthan Tells Govt by Thavam Ratna

More Q&A On Devolution & Constitution Making

By Laksiri Fernando –June 13, 2016

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

Addressing the question of devolution undoubtedly might be the most controversial among the constitutional issues facing Sri Lanka today. There are both ‘pull and push’ factors in operation dividing the people and political parties, on ethnic and other grounds. As a follow up to the previous article on “Going Beyond the 13-A and Towards Cooperative Devolution” (8 May 2016) this is a further attempt to address some of the other key issues in the form of ‘questions and answers.’ The purpose is to deviate from abstract debates and bring some concrete substance to the discussions. While the attempt is to be brief, objective and detached as much as possible, the answers admittedly constitute the author’s personal opinions.

Question: What could be the ‘nature of the state’ in a new constitution? Is it possible not to write about it?

Answer: A constitution can be silent on the nature of the state. That can seemingly prevent a controversy. For example, the Soulbury constitution (1947) did not characterize the nature of the state. But it was a unitary state. We have to keep in mind however that the Soulbury constitution was not designed for full independence. For a fully-fledged independent constitution the characterization of the state is important. That is what happened in 1972.

There can be a delicate difference between what is written in a constitution and the actual nature of the state. This is our situation at present. Present constitution characterizes the state as unitary. But after devolution, under the 13th Amendment (1987), in fact the character is not strictly unitary, but quasi-unitary. The constitution also names the state as ‘socialist.’ But we are no near socialism. There is no point in keeping it any longer.

We have a tradition of writing the constitution in a single document. There is no possibility of changing it. Writing the nature of the state is therefore almost unavoidable. The nature of the state however does not limit to the controversy over ‘unitary vs. federal.’ The nature of the state should be democratic. This is where we should pay more attention. Our society is also plural, multicultural and multi-religious. This should reflect in the constitution. That can address some of the controversial issues on ethnic and religious lines. It is best to incorporate the actual situation and actual interests.

Question: Is it possible then to avoid characterizing the state as unitary? What is the most realistic formulation?

Answer: There is a strong feeling that the unitary character of the state should be preserved. One reason is the experience of separatism. The enforcement of the unitary principle is considered as a guarantee to prevent separation.

On the other hand, those who want to drop the unitary characterization feel that it allows the central government to interfere unnecessarily in provincial matters. Therefore, the best or the rational compromise might be to ‘write the unitary character but qualify it.’ For example, in could be written “Sri Lanka is a unitary state with devolution of power to the nine provinces as prescribed in the constitution.” A ‘devolved unitary state’ is and might be the future situation.

Read More

British High Commissioner hears struggles of journalists in North-East Sri Lanka

 13 June 2016

The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris went on a 2 day trip to the North-East last week.

Photograph: British High Commision

During his visit “he heard about progress and challenges facing the communities in these areas. He met a range of politicians, government officials, religious leaders, civil society organisations, business leaders, resettled communities and journalists,” said the British high Commission in its statement.

The High Commissioner also met with journalists in Jaffna to get heir take on the political climate and challenges faced by representatives of the media working in the North, adds the statement.

In the East Mr Dauris discussed constitutional reform, and met with Bishop Noel Emmanuel and other local community representatives.

British High Commissioner says government is taking action on detention of British citizen (12 Jun 2016)

Journalist attacked within MC premises

2016-06-14

ri Lanka has been ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Impunity Index as the 4th worst country in the world for attacks on journalists that go unsolved. There are only a handful of journalists, like Freddy Gamage, the editor of regional newspaper ‘Meepura’, who will even risk their lives for the right to information and media freedom in the country. Though right to information is an integral part of our Constitution, most journalists do not feel safe to execute this right. Self censorship has sadly superseded media freedom and has even become a norm among young journalists of Sri Lanka. We were initially pleased about the enforcement of good governance (Yahapalanaya) by the new regime, because transparency in government affairs is one of the key facets of good governance. However, this incident once again showed that it is still difficult for journalists, to shed light on corruption and illicit activities that occur in the country.
The Sri Lankan Working Journalists Association condemned the attack on Freddy Gamage and stated that the media should be able to pursue their work without any fear and favour, that it is a pity that such attacks occur even under good governance and the perpetrator should be penalized despite political influence in such instances.

I was threatened before the attack: Freddy Gamage

Freddy Gamage, journalist and Convener of the Web Journalists Association was assaulted on the afternoon of June 2, while returning after covering the Negombo Municipal Council Meeting, by two people wearing full-face helmets and overcoats.
“When I looked at the motorcyclists at the Council grounds where my car was parked they appeared to be baffled. When I opened the car door I looked at them once again and suddenly they were on me. Though I tried dodging their first blow it hit my head. I fell flat on to the floor and managed to run away without my shoes. I saved my life by jumping over the fence of the council. Some women who witnessed the incident said that there was no number plate on the bike,” Mr. Gamage told Daily Mirror. “I went to the police to make a complaint but half way through I felt extremely dizzy and my body was throbbing with pain. They completed taking down the complaint at the hospital.”
“Two weeks prior to this incident I received a phone call threatening me not to write anything demeaning about the Lanza brothers. I have the voice recording,” Mr. Gamage said. “Within 48 hours the culprits were caught. The attackers are employees of the Municipal  Council. In fact one of them had stamped their cards to attend the workshop held on that day. I believe that the people connected to Deputy Mayor Dayan Lanza handed over the two suspects with the weapons used, to absolve Dayan of the blame, because the police were searching for him.” The arrested attackers had allegedly  told the police that they attacked Freddy Gamage because he had published articles criticizing Dayan Lanza. “Sources state that Dayan Lanza had made 15 calls to one of the suspects arrested. If not for someone with political power, who else could attack me in public in broad daylight,” Freddy asked. 

“We need to arrest the mastermind behind this attack. These people are connected to the underworld and use their political power to silence people. Even today there was a three- wheeler parked next to my office which suddenly sped away as if to scare me hoping that I would withdraw the case,” he remarked.
Mr. Gamage said in January 2009 when Nimal Lanza was the mayor he had been allegedly  threatened with death. “As Lasantha Wickramatunga was murdered at the time, I feared for my life and went into hiding,” he said. “We have been writing extensively about the misuse of national property and political power by the Lanza brothers. Recently Dayan Lanza had called the secretary of the Urban Council to his cabin and had scolded her coarsely. As a consequence she fell ill and was admitted to the hospital. They act like ruffians in the Council premises and get away scot free.”
With regards to media freedom Mr. Gamage said, “Under the new government this is the first instance where a journalist was attacked in broad daylight. The case is being investigated now, unlike during the previous regime. I must add that the suspect is an ally of Mahinda Rajapaksa though he works in an Urban Council under Good Governance.” He added that we should be concerned about protecting and establishing the media freedom we have achieved.

my brother is not involved : Nimal Lanza  

When contacted by Daily Mirror, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Nimal Lanza,  denied his brother Dayan Lanza’s involvement with regard to the attack on Freddy.  “Freddy was not truly attacked, it is a lie. There are also false allegations and rumours stating that it was Dayan who authorised the attack. This is not true, and even if it is true I highly condemn it. I myself have no relation to this incident. Freddy and I are also good friends. This attack may be due to some personal animosity against him. Some one would have attacked Freddy on the grounds that he has written false facts in one of his articles. But, I am not involved with any of this. Anyway the people who directly attacked him are in remand.”
We told him that the two individuals who are in remand, were instructed by some higher authority to attack Freddy. Therefore, they are not the true perpetrators of the case, “Yes,” he said in regard to the statement, “That may be true. But I am not involved in this matter. I have never had a problem with the media.”
The two suspects who are in remand are to be produced before an identification parade today. 

SRI LANKA NEEDS A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY TO IMPLEMENT RESOLUTION 30/1 – ZEID AL HUSSEIN

13/06/2016

“In Sri Lanka, the government’s efforts to implement its commitments in Resolution 30/1 will require a comprehensive strategy on transitional justice that enables it to pursue different processes in a coordinated, integrated and appropriately sequenced manner. This will require the inclusive and meaningful engagement of all Sri Lankans. I will present an oral update later in the session. “

The full speech of the High Commissioner Zeid 

‘Hate is being mainstreamed’

Sri Lanka Needs a Comprehensive Strategy to Implement Resolution 30 1- Zeid Al Hussein by Thavam Ratna

Exiled Tamil Victims Of War Crimes Ready To Testify To Special Sri Lankan Court Only If International Judges Are Involved

June 12, 2016

Exiled Tamil victims of war crimes and torture say they would testify by video to a special court in Sri Lanka only if international judges were involved and their identities protected,” the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) said in a new report titled ‘Forgotten: Sri Lanka’s exiled victims’.

Yasmin Sooka – Executive Director – International Truth & Justice Project – Sri Lanka

This comes as Sri Lanka is under scrutiny at the Human Rights Council in Geneva next week for its progress in implementing a transitional justice programme it outlined nine months ago and agreed to in a consensus UN resolution.

“To our knowledge this is only the third time – after Sierra Leone and Liberia – that victims outside a country have been consulted during a transitional justice process,” said its report’s author, Yasmin Sooka, “it’s important that thousands of Tamils who’ve fled Sri Lanka have a voice, especially as some are the only known surviving witnesses to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

Victims interviewed in the study clearly identified their top priority as criminal accountability, including the prosecution of those who were in positions of superior and command responsibility. Sri Lanka currently has no legislation incorporating superior and command responsibility. Victims were also clear that all of the transitional justice mechanisms, particularly the special court, must have a majority international staff in the form of judges, prosecutors, investigators and commissioners so as to guarantee independence and inspire their trust. They were clear that no amnesty should be offered for international crimes.

“These findings have huge implications for the design of the transitional justice mechanisms in Sri Lanka,” said Yasmin Sooka, “donors, the international community and the Government of Sri Lanka must take note and facilitate the participation of these victims”.

“The recent publication of Sri Lanka’s law establishing an Office of Missing Persons without input from the families of victims and civil society is contrary to the spirit of the UN resolution and the normative framework for participation and consultation. The Sri Lankan law is problematic as it does not deal with the criminal aspects of enforced disappearances,” she said.

This latest study by the International Truth and Justice Project is based on interviews with 75 Tamil victims in four different European countries. The majority had survived the final phase of the conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009 and 73% had been subjected to torture by the security forces after the fighting stopped, 54% to rape or other forms of sexual violence. 44% of those interviewed reported that a close family member had been tortured. In some cases multiple generations had been tortured as a result of the conflict.

“What is often under-reported is the extent of violations inflicted on the entire family, be it torture, reprisals or extortion. Worryingly several people reported that their families were still being harassed or threatened after the change of government in Sri Lanka in 2015 and this cannot create a conducive atmosphere in which to conduct national consultations,” said Sooka.

The ITJP study found the level of mistrust in the Government was very high; 94% of those interviewed did not think Sri Lankan officials would take any notice of their views. There was also a marked distrust of the international community, including the United Nations, because of a perception that many countries are now blindly supporting the new government in Sri Lanka.

Victims identified several steps that could help build trust; the most popular was the immediate return of land occupied by the Sri Lankan military. Asked what period of history the transitional justice mechanisms should cover, interviewees were split between starting with Independence in 1948 and in 1983 but the vast majority agreed the process should examine events right up to the present day. The victims hoped to see a Truth Commission established within a year.

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