In the last months of the 30-year civil war, early in 2009, the Sri Lankan military forced some 300,000 Tamils into a succession of “No Fire Zones” on the north-eastern coast.
Described by the government as a humanitarian rescue operation, it was used to facilitate the targeted shelling of civilians. A United Nations report earlier this year confirmed widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity. The government, which had banned local and international media from the war zone, denies this. Over the last two years a team from Channel 4 News has amassed mobile phone footage filmed inside the war zone. The resulting documentary provides harrowing evidence of the atrocities committed.
The banning of the media was only one tactic employed by the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse to give the army a free hand in what he had pledged would be a war to the end against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Towards the end of 2008, the government told relief agencies and foreign observers that they could no longer guarantee their safety in the north of the country. More...
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