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Engage world’s best criminal investigators to probe Noyahr ‘abduction and assault’Ramanie de Zoysa
I convey my unreserved sympathy and well wishes to Mr Keith Noyahr and his family on the ordeal they have been through. None of my comments below are made with the intention of deepening their grief or marginalizing their suffering.
This indeed is yet another horrific incident that will mar the reputation of Sri Lanka, its administration and its culture and give the anti-Sri Lankan lobby around the globe more ammunition to shoot down the Sri Lankan Government and power the drive to dismember Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government must take the alleged abduction and assault of Mr. Noyahr, an event far more serious than the loss of a seat in the UNHRC, extremely seriously. On the one hand a civilian has been assaulted for no reason apparent to ordinary citizens- only the media appears to have already arrived at conclusions and placed the blame squarely on the Sri Lankan Government. On the other hand the Sri Lankan government must for once and for all deal with this is insidious finger pointing by the media head on. My contention is that it is the climate of impunity with which the Sri Lankan media as well as their international counterparts operate in twisting the truth, facts and arms to decimate a great country that concerns the pro bono publico and not any paucity of reported ‘truth’ about the war. Polls conducted even by outfits such as the Centre for Policy Alternatives which are openly anti- Sri Lankan Government strongly indicate that a resounding majority of the population of Sri Lanka knows what the ‘war’ is all about and what needs to be done about it; the fact that a vast majority of the population backs the Sri Lankan Government in the ‘war’ effort is no secret.
Free Media movement (“FMM”) in a communiqué of May 23, 2008 titled ABDUCTION AND RELEASE OF JOURNALIST: END THIS IMPUNITY quite rightly condemned the attack. FMM also used its all too familiar technique of juxtapositioning to force the uninitiated reader to arrive at conclusions FMM wanted the reader to arrive at. Take a look at the first paragraph of this article:
“The abduction of senior journalist, Keith Noyahr, Associate Editor of the Nation newspaper just outside his home in a residential suburb of Colombo is a shocking incident that highlights the vulnerability of human rights and the media in Sri Lanka. Mr Noyahr wrote the defence column for his newspaper in addition to editing it. The National Peace Council condemns this abduction which adds to the dismal toll of victims of serious human rights violations. Ironically, this incident occurred on the day after Sri Lanka failed to obtain re-election to the UN Human Rights Council which demands that member countries demonstrate the highest adherence to human rights norms.” (emphasis added)
In this communiqué FMM makes a wide statement which sets the background in the readers’ mind- “human rights and media are both “vulnerable” in Sri Lanka”! In such a climate a media man has been abducted! Immediately the reader is alerted. Then there is the not so subtle hint- the victim “wrote the defence column for his newspaper”. Suspicions come flooding into the unsuspecting reader’s mind. “Someone writes a defense column and may be he criticized the State Defence personnel- this same person is assaulted?!!!” The existence of a pattern is then drummed into the reader’s mind by referring to “the toll of serious HR violations” in Sri Lanka. Then comes the alleged connection! The incident “occurred on the day after Sri Lanka (which is by now looking more and more like the culprit) failed to get re-elected to the UHHRC! Now it’s crystal clear! The reader that FMM takes to be a complete and utter mug has now put two and two together and arrived at ten. “Without a doubt the Sri Lankan Defence establishment must have got really peed off when SL lost the seat in the UN HRC- so they beat up the media guy!!! How Disgusting?!”
Happily for FMM, some of its readers do fit the bill. There seem to be readers who miss the point that FMM has not presented an iota of evidence. The ‘motive’ FMM establishes is far too obvious to be credit worthy. In a climate of vitriolic persecution of the Sri Lankan Government by Western and home-grown NGOs, the national and international media, the UN and its allied human rights bullies and the Tamil terror Diaspora, the assault of a media man of no earth shattering significance over some comments he makes in his own newspaper would be the height of suicidal, maniacal, mind-blowing stupidity ever! This class of readers also fail to ask themselves why on earth the Sri Lankan Government would want to beat up a random media man senseless just because Sri Lanka did not get a consecutive election to a UN committee. Obviously some of FMM’s clients do fall into the class of ‘mugs’.
Unhappily for FMM, there is another class of readers who are no ‘mugs’. They see that the case deserves specialist investigation in order to establish the truth. They see more holes in the emerging story than in a slice of Swiss cheese.
According to Daily Mirror report on Saturday, May 24, 2008, titled “NoyaHr’s nightmare” it has been customary for Mr Noyahr to call his wife just as he was turning into Waidya Road from Galle Road so that she could open the gate for him. On this particular evening of 22 May 2008 Mrs Noyahr was called by her husband to tell her that he was just about turning into Waidya Road from Galle Road. This was circa 10.30pm on that unfortunate day. After taking the call Mrs Noyahr went (immediately?) to the gate to open it for him. By that time Mr Noyahr had already been abducted because Roshini Noyahr found the car abandoned at her gate with the car door open and the engine running. I am not aware how many minutes it took for Roshini to walk to her gate after the phone call but by that time the assailants have taken Mr Noyahr by force (without causing undue noise) and there was no trace of anyone near the gate. Mr Noyahr doesn’t seem to be a small made, feeble person and he is 44 years young; so I am assuming it took some struggle to force him into a vehicle of some sort in order to be out of there within minutes if not seconds.
When Roshini found the empty car she was quite naturally “frightened, worried and fearing the worst” and the first thing she did was to drive the vehicle into the garage before informing the authorities that her husband had gone missing. I can understand her natural instincts in wanting to safeguard the family motor vehicle and I am no crime scene investigator but I wonder if Mrs Noyahr unwittingly compromised a crime scene which would seriously hamper the job of the Police who have now been deployed to investigate the scene for clues. Should Mrs Noyahr have touched anything in the crime scene let alone get into the car and drive it? This report also says that “colleagues and media personnel who heard of the incident rushed to their (Mr & Mrs Noyahr’s) house and did everything possible to locate the missing journalist.” Shouldn’t the entire entrance to the house have been sealed off so as to preserve the integrity of the examination for evidence and Mr Noyahr’s family provided with State security perhaps at an alternative venue where family and friends could have gathered around them?
If indeed these media men and women operate in a climate of fear as they claim to be I wonder if Mr Noyahr’s gate was guarded by security and if not, why not? Waidya Road Dehiwala is a highly built up residential area- were there any passers by who may have heard anything? Did any alert neighbour notice anything untoward?
Mr Noyahr suffered “a savage seven-hour torture” at the hands of unknown assailants. According to Daily Mirror “some six to seven hours after his abduction, while police were on their way to trace the mobile phone signal, Mr. Noyhar returned home with his face swelled up and blood pouring from his mouth, nose and ears, but fortunately still conscious.” Mr Noyahr is indeed extremely lucky that after a seven hour ordeal where he was beaten mercilessly he could still walk home albeit in a dazed and severely bruised state- so lucky that it almost sounds like a miracle.
Why would someone who abducts and assaults a civilian then allow him to walk home? The assailants would certainly be aware that the victim would expose their identity be it to the authorities or to the World Press as in the case of a powerful media man such as Mr Noyahr. Did he walk home; how far did he walk in his battered and bruised state? Or was he dropped off by the assailants in a vehicle? Was it the famous ‘white van’ that supposedly belongs to the Sri Lankan Government?
FMM states in the above mentioned communiqué that “a notable feature of these abductions is that they take place even in areas where there is a high level of security and checkpoints at regular intervals. It appears that the abductors are able to take their victims through these security checkpoints with impunity. In addition there have been a number of attacks on journalists, leading in some cases to their death, in which the perpetrators have been able to get away with impunity.”
If that is not an attempt to implicate the Sri Lankan military as the perpetrator I don’t know what is! Despite high security Sri Lanka’s famous Tamil terrorists have carted truckloads of explosives for miles and rammed into highly secured establishments such as the Central Bank in Colombo and Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. Motor cyclists zoom around with explosives packed and ram themselves into populated areas in Colombo CBD in broad day light! Suicide cadres dressed up as pregnant women walk in and out of military clinics without being detected in order to blow up the Army Commander. Could the Sri Lankan military be behind all these crimes as all these people passed through security check points undetected? It is these very concerned media men who screamed hoarse when the Government established military blockades that could check everyone rather than be limited to random checks where you depend to a large extent on your luck; with this brand of human rights the Sri Lankan Government is indeed between the devil and the deep blue sea! The Sri Lankan Government is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t!
Only someone subjected to such a horrendous ordeal could know the agony Mr Noyahr is going through; however, it is unfortunate that he has not yet divulged any hint as to who his tormentors could be as only he can help unravel the identity of those with whom he must have come into close contact with during his ordeal. Reports indicate Mr Noyahr is able to speak and he is reported to have said a few words to his media friends visiting. Daily Mirror reports ““I do not know anything about the abduction. It happened so suddenly and it tires me when I talk for long,” he told his journalist colleagues who visited him at the Hospital last morning.” Shouldn’t his efforts to speak have been better employed in giving a brief statement to the Police investigators giving them some clues to help with the identification and apprehension of the culprits rather than talking to friends? If indeed he was the victim of the Sri Lankan Government’s high handed handling why did he not confirm this to his media friends so that the Government would have been in deep hot water? Why is the media still resorting to insinuations, shadow-boxing and mud slinging rather than saying who committed this crime and how?
The International Federation of Journalists (“IFJ”) was quick to quote FMM’s insinuations and stated that it “believes Keith Noyahr was abducted and physically assaulted as a direct result of his work as a journalist…..As a defense writer for The Nation, Noyahr has reported on the on-going conflict between the Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).” Here again the media stops short of naming the assailant only resorting to insinuations.
FMM claims that there were death threats against Mr Noyahr. "His reporting was critical of high-ranking military officers and the Government's approach to and conduct of the war. According to family sources the FMM learns that threats directed against him had forced him to take precautionary measures". As mentioned in this article there is no sign that there was a security presence at his gate or that he had a bodyguard with him; what exactly were the security precautions that Mr Noyahr took to safeguard against this threat?
It is also worrying that there is disagreement about whether Mr Noyahr received any threats prior to this incident or not. IFJ says that, “according to a family member, he had received a number of threats in recent weeks.” This is in sharp contrast to the Police statement that no such entries have been made. Who is telling the truth?
It is more than interesting that IFJ “congratulates the FMM and all individuals and organizations who banded together to put pressure on the government to ensure Keith Noyahr’s return.” Is this correct? Was Mr Noyahr “released” after FMM and other put pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to “release” him? That directly accuses the Sri Lankan Government of having abducted Mr. Noyahr because to release Mr Noyahr, Sri Lankan Government must have first had to abduct him. We look to the Sri Lankan Government to make a direct public statement to clarify this point. Unwittingly the Sri Lankan Government confirms such brazen accusations unless a full response is publicly made and initiators of such statements are taken to courts for slander.
On 23 May 2008, The International Press Institute (IPI), “the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries” also rightly condemned the abduction and assault of Mr Noyahr. IPI also reminded readers of the fact that “Sri Lanka’s reputation as a place where violence against journalists goes unpunished continues to grow, and the pervasiveness of impunity was one of several factors prompting the IPI Board to place Sri Lanka back on its Watch List in November 2007.” Home to a uniquely sophisticated ancient civilization of over 3000 years and home to a thriving mature democracy, Sri Lanka looks forlorn in this Watch List amongst Ethiopia, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Russia and Venezuela!
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