Jon Snow to present Sri Lanka war crimes film

26 April 2011

As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon considers whether to investigate "credible allegations" that Sri Lankan forces committed war crimes in the closing weeks of the civil war in 2009, Channel 4 is to screen footage which appears to document these crimes - captured on mobile phones by both victims and perpetrators.

The harrowing and dramatic footage will be screened as part of a powerful forensic investigation into the events of the last few weeks of the decades-long war, presented by Jon Snow.  

Ban Ki-moon yesterday published a report by a UN-appointed panel of experts which calls for a thorough international investigation into alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The film examines the footage which, on the face of it, shows: extra-judicial executions filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers as war trophies on their phones; the aftermath of shelling in civilian camps and hospitals alleged to have been deliberately targeted by Sri Lankan government forces; dead female Tamil fighters who appear to have been systematically raped, and pictures which document Tamil fighters alive in the custody of Sri Lankan government forces and then later dead, apparently having been executed.

The film also features interviews with eye-witnesses, photographic stills, official Sri Lankan army video footage and satellite imagery. Independent experts, analysts and human rights lawyers scrutinise the evidence. They argue that it shows that the army was acting on express orders from the current Sri Lankan government and it represents a compelling case for war crimes prosecution.

The film also acknowledges the atrocities alleged to have been carried out by the separatist Tamil Tigers at the end of this bloody conflict.

The film's director Callum Macrae says: "The Sri Lankan government wanted a war without witness - deporting journalists and pressurising UN representatives to leave - but it didn't allow for the extraordinary power of mobile phone and satellite technology. We have trawled through hours of devastating imagery shot by Tamils under attack and Sri Lankan soldiers as war trophies. The claims made by eye-witnesses in the film appear to be illustrated in each case by video footage or still images."

Channel 4's Head of News & Current Affairs Dorothy Byrne, who commissioned the programme, says: "The footage is probably the most horrific the channel has ever shown. The decision to show it at length was made only after serious and careful consideration. This dossier of visual evidence of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by forces of the Government of Sri Lanka is of the greatest possible public interest.  We believe that screening it is the only way to enable viewers to make their own informed judgements about what happened."

Channel 4 News has consistently reported on the atrocities carried out by the Sri Lankan army on Tamils in the last months of the civil war. In August 2009, Channel 4 News aired a video which showed naked, bound men being executed with a shot to the back of the head by two men in khaki uniforms on what appears to be a dirt road. The Sri Lankan government attempted to discredit the video and Channel 4 News and lodged a series of complaints with Ofcom backed by an attempt to seek anonymity so that their identity as the complainant would not be disclosed.

However in January 2010, the UN's Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Philip Alston, called for an independent inquiry after a forensic pathologist, a forensic video analyst and a firearms expert concluded the original video shown on C4 was likely to be real. In December 2010, Channel 4 News showed a further video from the same source of Sri Lankan soldiers executing prisoners

This new current affairs investigation will air in a post-watershed slot in May and distressing images will by preceded by appropriate warnings. The film is being made by ITN Productions, Callum Macrae is the director and producer, the editor is Garath Williams and it is being executive produced by Chris Shaw.