Dr Manoharan asked for your help to get justice for his son. Your response was incredible. Watch his video message to you.
Dear Supporter
Your support for our campaign has been amazing so far. Nearly 50,000 people in 181 countries signed the petition and tweeted Sri Lanka to Tell the Truth about its war crimes and human rights abuses. This shows the power of our movement to target and expose perpetrators of human rights violations. And we're clearly making the Sri Lanka government very uncomfortable.
We've just got back from a trip to the UN in Geneva where we went with Dr Manoharan to hand in your petition signatures. The petition called for the release of a report into the killing of Dr Manoharan's son by Sri Lanka authorities.* We had arranged to meet with the Sri Lankan Ambassador, but at the last minute he cancelled and refused to accept the petition.
Dr Manoharan was clearly disappointed that he did not get his opportunity to officially hand in the petition to the Sri Lankan authorities.But at the same time, he was pleased that senior level officials are clearly reacting to the pressure. Hopefully he has moved one step closer to achieving his ultimate goal of getting justice for his son, Ragihar. Here's his video message, which he wanted us to share with you.
At the end of November, Sri Lanka will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. This is an excellent public opportunity for us to hold Sri Lanka to account, expose their war crimes and record of torture and unlawful killings. I'll update you again soon on the next phase of our campaign.Thanks for your incredible support so far, Danny Vannucchi Security with Human Rights Campaigner PS If you want to send supportive messages to Dr Manoharan in his ongoing case, please leave them in the comments box on Youtube, below the video. Please see a reminder of Dr Manorahan's story below. ******** *Dr Manoharan from Trincomalee, Sri Lanka has evidence to strongly suggest that Sri Lanka's security forces killed his son unlawfully. Here he explains why the success of this campaign is so important to his family. "The last time I heard from my son, Ragihar was a mobile phone text message. It just said: "DAD". It was 2 January 2006. He had been on the beach with four of his friends, near our home. Just moments before, I had heard a bomb blast near the beach. Since Ragihar had not come home yet, I rushed to the scene. When I arrived the navy guards said: "No, you can't go through at the moment." And then I heard voices crying in Tamil: "Help us! Help us!" Then they opened fire. I didn't know what had happened. Later, they said: "Five civilians are dead and two are injured." I was in total shock. I visited the mortuary and the first body I saw was my son's. He had five gunshot wounds. The government claimed that my son and his friends were killed in a grenade attack. But three of the boys had head wounds - they were shot through the back of the head. I have some photographs, and the doctor's report confirms this. That night, I took a decision. I would challenge the authorities, no matter what. It was clear to me that the security forces had killed my son. Since then, my family and I have been fighting for an international investigation into Ragihar's murder. I also want the Sri Lanka government to publicly release its 2006 report that includes details about my son's killers. Before Ragihar died, he cried out to me for help. This is my call to you. The more people sign this petition, the louder our call for justice for Ragihar. When Sri Lanka finally tells the truth about what happened to my son and others like him, then we can say that Ragihar's call for help has finally been heard.
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