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New video evidence of Isaipriya alive in military custody

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New footage obtained by Channel 4 news shows Tamil journalist Isaipriya alive and held by the Sri Lankan Army, contrary to earlier government reports.

The video footage and pictures, shot from a Sri Lankan soldier's mobile phone, shows Isaipriya being dragged up from a ditch, half naked and being led away. Photos of her dead body, bearing visible signs of torture and sexual abuse, were unearthed in 2010.

See the Channel 4 report below.

The Sri Lankan government had claimed the popular Tamil reporter and actress, who they had labelled a "terrorist", was killed in battle.

Photos and video of her dead body, also shot on mobile phones belonging to Sri Lankan soldiers, were uncovered in 2010. Several Sri Lankan soldiers can be clearly identified, looking directly into the camera.

The footage will be shown in the documentary 'No Fire Zone' on British national television on the 3rd of November at 10.50 pm.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, No Fire Zone director Callum Macrae said,

"This is incredibly significant... Taken along with all the other evidence of executions and mistreatment of prisoners at the end of the war, it suggests something systematic."

"And with an army as disciplined as the Sri Lankan Army, that suggests responsibility can go right to the very very top."

"It shouldn't be forgotten that we know where this happened, we know who was in charge. So if we know that, why hasn't the Sri Lankan government investigated, especially given all the calls on them to investigate from the UN and even from our Prime Minister (David Cameron)."


Also see our earlier post:

Orgy of massacre, rape, torture and mutilation in final days (27 July 2011)

A Sri Lanka Army soldier had earlier told Channel 4:

"When I look at it as an outsider I think they're simply brutal beasts. Their hearts are like that of animals, with no sense of humanity.”

"They shoot people at random, stab people, rape them, cut their tongues out, cut women's breasts off. I have witnessed all this with my own eyes."


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