Cambodia has banned the broadcast of ‘Methagu’ a movie based on the life of Velupillai Prabhakaran the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) following a request made by the Sri Lanka government which identify “the LTTE as one of the most brutal terrorist organisations in the world.” 

The Cambodian Ministry of Information requested all TV station owners in the country to ban the broadcast of the movie on cable TV and all other TV stations.  

In a statement, The Cambodian Ministry of Information said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has received a request from Sri Lanka to request the Kingdom of Cambodia to help prevent the broadcast of Methagu, which reflects the life of the former terrorist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Directed by Velupillai Prabhakaran and produced by the Tamil Eelam Film Society.”

_{Image Credit Khmer Times}

In July, Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry expressed similar outrage over customised Tamil Eelam sneakers. It comes as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, raised her concerns over the continued  “surveillance, intimidation and judicial harassment of human rights defenders, journalists and families of the disappeared".  It also follows the banning of memorials to  Lt Col Thileepan, who sacrificed his life in protest against the failure of the Indian government to honour the pledges made to the Tamil people. 

Last September, then UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff highlighted that crackdown on memorialisation events including those that memoralised the fallen Tamil Tigers had a damaging psychological impact which was “retraumatizing and alienating”. This is because it denied victims of a chance to memorialise their experience

“Grieving families have expressed the need to bury or destroy photographs of their deceased loved ones in uniform for fear of harassment by the security forces” he noted.

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