As the civil war in Sri Lanka drew to its bloody end in 2009
the government of this island nation removed its protection from UN officials
and employees, who, along with other international observers, were forced to
leave the conflict zone. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his inner circle
wanted, it seemed, a war without witness.
The end result was the
deliberate slaughter of an estimated 70,000 innocent civilians. However, many
survivors, and some who died, were able to capture on camera the horrifying
conclusion to the war and the cruel deprivations of the internment camps that followed.
Today, through their images and testimony, Rajapaksa stands accused of war
crimes.
In Sri Lanka’s Secrets experienced
journalist Trevor Grant presents the shocking story of the final days of this
war, alongside the photographs and eye-witness accounts of many Tamils,
including Maravan, a social worker who fled to Australia by boat after being
tortured by soldiers seeking his folio of photographs.
Grant also details the
continuing torture and abuse of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and some national
governments’ ongoing support for a regime that has abandoned any pretense of
democracy. Foremost among these enthusiastic supporters has been the Government
of Australia, cynically preoccupied with ‘stopping the boats’ fleeing Sri
Lankan state terror At any cost.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Trevor Grant has worked
as a journalist for more than 40 years, as a reporter and specialist feature
writer for The Age and
News Ltd in Melbourne, mostly in the sports arena. He now works as a
broadcaster and writer on activist issues in Australia, and as an advocate for
refugees through the Tamil Refugee Council and Friends of Refugees.
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