Subject:  Sri Lankan war criminals entering the U.S. as diplomats

 August 26, 2009

Dear Secretary Clinton, Attorney General Holder and Ambassador Butenis,

Britain's Channel 4 News broadcast a video today showing Sri Lankan soldiers summarily executing bound and naked Tamil prisoners.  The video was supplied by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, an international group of "journalists, writers, artists and human rights defenders" (their own identification) based in Germany. Channel 4 indentified the video as having been made in January 2009 by a Sri Lankan soldier on his mobile phone and later smuggled out to the journalists' group.

See the Channel 4 report here: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=35256686001

According to the U.N., the number of Tamil civilians killed by Sri Lankan government is over 30,000 between January and May of this year.

This is no surprise to us. We have been hearing stories like this for years. We have heard that thousands of crippled Tamil civilians have been buried alive by the Sri Lankan armed forces on May 18, 2009, a story which we expect will eventually be proven and become part of the world's consciousness.

President Rajapaksa plans to address the U.N. general assembly session being held this fall. He plans to bring Sri Lankan soldiers and present them for the approbation of the world's representatives.

We consider that these bloody-handed killers are appropriately regarded as war criminals and should be barred from entering the U.S. We urge the U.S. state and justice departments to prevent them from entering the U.S. and exploiting American credulity.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Tamils for Obama