:00:00. > :00:00.Tamil civilians as recently as this year, four years after the end of
:00:00. > :00:00.the civil war. The programme contains very graphic images and
:00:00. > :00:10.language which some viewers may find distressing.
:00:11. > :00:13.Four years after the end of the bloody war in shrank, we have
:00:14. > :00:24.uncovered new evidence of human rights abuses against minority
:00:25. > :00:28.Tamils. I have been speaking to Sri Lankans who fled the country after
:00:29. > :00:32.being raped and tortured by the security forces. These are not the
:00:33. > :00:36.sort of stories that you can report inside the country. Even abroad,
:00:37. > :00:37.those who speak out still fear for the safety of their families back
:00:38. > :00:55.home. We have talked to women raped as
:00:56. > :00:59.recently as this year. The Sri Lankan government dismisses this as
:01:00. > :01:05.propaganda. Human rights experts say our evidence needs international
:01:06. > :01:10.investigation. Is it systematic, is that widespread? There is plenty of
:01:11. > :01:12.evidence to tick both those boxes? What does it means? It equates to a
:01:13. > :01:41.crime against humanity. This is what the Sri Lankan
:01:42. > :01:46.government wants you to see. And Indian Ocean paradise. The economy
:01:47. > :01:54.is booming after the war, and for many on this island, life is much
:01:55. > :01:57.better. Hosting more than 50 world leaders for the Commonwealth heads
:01:58. > :02:08.of government meeting, this is shrill and car's big moment on the
:02:09. > :02:14.world stage. `` Sri Lanka's. I was the BBC's correspondent in Sri Lanka
:02:15. > :02:18.from 2000, to 2004. In recent months I collected evidence of torture and
:02:19. > :02:23.rape taking place after the war. 12 men and women say they were raped in
:02:24. > :02:27.detention by members of the Sri Lankan security forces as recently
:02:28. > :02:32.as this year. It is impossible to corroborate every detail of each
:02:33. > :02:37.person's story, but we have seen medical reports, spoken to doctors,
:02:38. > :02:43.and in some cases a silent in Europe has been granted on the basis of
:02:44. > :02:49.their stories. `` asylum. This young woman says she was kidnapped early
:02:50. > :02:52.this year in Sri Lanka. Bundled into a white man, blindfolded and
:02:53. > :02:58.handcuffed, she never saw the outside of the building where she
:02:59. > :03:01.was held. But she did hear other Tamil women screaming. After being
:03:02. > :03:03.beaten into signing a confession in a language she could not understand,
:03:04. > :03:40.the rates began. `` the rape. You have come here today to talk to
:03:41. > :03:42.us and give us an interview. How difficult was that as a decision to
:03:43. > :03:57.do that? In 2009, the Sri Lankan army crashed
:03:58. > :04:04.the Tamil Tiger rebels who have been fighting for a separate state. ``
:04:05. > :04:08.rushed. Over the decades, they have used a suicide bombers and child
:04:09. > :04:12.soldiers, assassinated President and Prime Minister 's, but by the end,
:04:13. > :04:15.they were described as terrorists around the world. But the
:04:16. > :04:20.government's victory was overshadowed by allegations of war
:04:21. > :04:32.crimes and crimes against humanity. Charges also levelled at the Tigers.
:04:33. > :04:38.The United Nations now estimates that up to 40, possibly even to ``
:04:39. > :04:42.70,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final months. A majority by
:04:43. > :04:46.the Sri Lankan government. The suffering of those trapped in the
:04:47. > :04:51.war zone was indescribable. At a makeshift hospitals, they were
:04:52. > :05:00.systematically attacked. The UN says it was by the government. The Tamil
:05:01. > :05:04.military `` the Sri Lankan military denies all of these and opposes any
:05:05. > :05:10.international investigation. A victory rally, the president boasted
:05:11. > :05:21.that his soldiers went into war with the human rights charter in one hand
:05:22. > :05:28.and a gun in the other. This was a conflict where thousands of rebel
:05:29. > :05:33.women fought alongside men. It made all Tamil women potential terror
:05:34. > :05:46.suspects. Allegations of sexual abuse by the security forces were
:05:47. > :05:51.common through the wall. She is a former rebel granted a silent in
:05:52. > :05:55.Europe. In early 2009, she was detained on suspicion of being a
:05:56. > :05:59.terrorist and badly tortured. He says he witnessed the horrific
:06:00. > :06:34.sexual abuse of a captured woman fighter in a Colombo police station.
:06:35. > :06:41.The final days of the war were the most brutal. This previously a
:06:42. > :06:44.broadcast photographs, believed to have them taken by government
:06:45. > :06:53.soldiers, appeared to show dead Tamil women. This woman that I
:06:54. > :07:00.filmed a decade ago worked in the Tamil media unit. Newly released
:07:01. > :07:04.footage shows that she surrendered to the army at the end of the war,
:07:05. > :07:09.but the government says that she died in battle. The horrific images
:07:10. > :07:14.of her dead body were accepted as authentic by the United Nations.
:07:15. > :07:18.They say that this footage raised a strong influence of rape or sexual
:07:19. > :07:32.violence may have occurred prior to or after execution. In all, some
:07:33. > :07:36.2000 suspect did women Tigers said `` were captured by the army also
:07:37. > :07:44.surrendered and sent to special camps. The outsiders were allowed
:07:45. > :07:48.access. `` no. This woman, who now has a silent in the UK, was a
:07:49. > :07:53.humanitarian worker who says that she was forced to join the rebels
:07:54. > :07:59.during the war. `` asylum. She hid among civilians when the war ended.
:08:00. > :08:02.Six months later, she thought it safe to venture out, only to be
:08:03. > :08:13.spotted by an informer at a military jet point and detained. `` point.
:08:14. > :08:20.The normal torture was rape. Is that what happened to you? Yes. Once or
:08:21. > :08:26.many times? So many times. From different, different men. Did they
:08:27. > :08:38.also had to physically in other ways? Beating and burning, cigarette
:08:39. > :08:42.burning. It is rare four one women to talk about sexual abuse, but with
:08:43. > :08:47.no hope of justice, some women are now starting to speak out in the
:08:48. > :08:50.hope of stopping this happening to others. The social stigma in Tamil
:08:51. > :08:55.society is so powerful surrounding rape, that even if she met her
:08:56. > :09:10.parents again, she would not tell them what happened to her.
:09:11. > :09:12.In our culture, people look at you in a different way if you have been
:09:13. > :09:44.raped. They do not talk to her. The stigma makes it all the more
:09:45. > :09:50.stored in a read that she has decided to speak in public about her
:09:51. > :09:54.ordeal. In our knowledge, she is the first Tamil great survivor to do so.
:09:55. > :11:21.She says that she was raped by the military as recently as this year.
:11:22. > :11:25.An independent expert witness who has investigated more than 200
:11:26. > :11:29.alleged torture cases from Tamil in the past five years also examined
:11:30. > :11:34.her. She counted more than 30 cigarette burns on her body,
:11:35. > :11:39.including on her genitals. She corroborated her story of recent
:11:40. > :11:43.rape and torture. The doctor dismisses any suggestion that Tamil
:11:44. > :11:47.women are inventing stories of rape in order to get a sale abroad, or as
:11:48. > :11:53.propaganda against the Sri Lankan government. `` asylum. They are not
:11:54. > :11:59.functioning at all, they are lying on their bed all day, they are not
:12:00. > :12:03.sleeping, not eating. They want to avoid people. They have constant
:12:04. > :12:07.memories of what have had `` what has happened to them and they are
:12:08. > :12:15.highly distressed. And it is fairly difficult to fake? I think it is
:12:16. > :12:21.very difficult to fake. Yes. I would say it is very difficult to fake. It
:12:22. > :12:27.is also very difficult to describe, for a person who has not experienced
:12:28. > :12:31.the trauma of being severely tortured and badly raped, to
:12:32. > :12:39.actually describe the day to day if that. The Sri Lankan military says
:12:40. > :12:43.between 2007 and 2012, there were only five incidents of sexual
:12:44. > :12:47.violence reported in the north of the island involving soldiers. But
:12:48. > :12:52.the campaign group, Human Rights Watch, has documented 62 cases of
:12:53. > :12:56.sexual abuse by the Sri Lankan military after the end of the war.
:12:57. > :13:00.The alter of their report says they found a similarity in the accounts
:13:01. > :13:03.they collected that strongly suggested that sexual abuse by the
:13:04. > :13:09.Sri Lankan military was both widespread and systematic.
:13:10. > :13:17.There were enough pointers that showed quite clearly that this was
:13:18. > :13:21.not perpetrated by officers or were random acts of violence, there was a
:13:22. > :13:23.level of co`ordination and a pattern of abuse which was systematic across
:13:24. > :13:33.all of the cases. We have been hearing similar stories
:13:34. > :13:37.from women's' groups based in northern Sri Lanka. They say they
:13:38. > :13:42.now have to deal with increasing numbers of unwanted pregnancies,
:13:43. > :13:50.after soldiers have raped Tamil women or coerced them into sexual
:13:51. > :13:57.relationships. This charity worker, who is not a camel, is hiding her
:13:58. > :14:03.identity because abortion is illegal entry mankind that the woman's light
:14:04. > :14:08.is in danger. `` Tamil. Sometimes we have to take these women to perform
:14:09. > :14:17.underground abortions. More often these women come and we have noticed
:14:18. > :14:20.marks, earn marks, `` burn marks, particularly with cigarettes, and
:14:21. > :14:25.bite marks on their body, scars and wounds. Some of them have been kept
:14:26. > :14:31.in custody for weeks or months and raped because they have demanded
:14:32. > :14:36.justice from the Sri Lankan system. Most of the cases happen to be
:14:37. > :14:44.abduction of their spouses. So, when they start talking about it, the
:14:45. > :14:48.women undergo torture and rape. Despite the account of what some
:14:49. > :14:51.women are still suffering in shrill anchor, there's only ever been one
:14:52. > :14:58.reported case where Mac or one soldiers have been convicted for the
:14:59. > :15:05.rape and murder of a woman. `` Sri Lankan soldiers. That was in 1996.
:15:06. > :15:08.Few are willing to take on the military. Impunity is what
:15:09. > :15:13.happening. Perpetrators of crimes should be held to account and
:15:14. > :15:15.brought to justice. That is international or international
:15:16. > :15:22.humanitarian law. It is not happening. Those people are not
:15:23. > :15:25.being investigated. They are not being tried before a court and are
:15:26. > :15:34.not being punished. That is impunity.
:15:35. > :15:40.Macro `` should I do has made progress on reconstruction of the
:15:41. > :15:47.war zone but building trust has been less successful. `` Sri Lanka has
:15:48. > :15:49.made. At the end of the war, the government detained a number of
:15:50. > :15:53.rebels in special rehabilitation centres. These were some of the
:15:54. > :15:59.first men and women to be handed out to their families. The government's
:16:00. > :16:00.release certificate claimed the individual had been socialised in
:16:01. > :16:09.detention. This man arrived in Britain this
:16:10. > :16:13.year. He says he was forced to join the Tamil Tiger rebels but only
:16:14. > :16:19.spent six months with them before the war ended. Then, he says, he was
:16:20. > :16:21.detained for nearly four years in the government's official
:16:22. > :16:51.rehabilitation programme. This will government says it has a
:16:52. > :16:54.zero tolerance policy torture. `` the Sri Lankan torture. It also says
:16:55. > :16:59.it created a world`class rehabilitation programme that
:17:00. > :17:03.fostered in peace and love. The inmates are said to have been
:17:04. > :17:05.offered education, training, healthcare and facilities for sport
:17:06. > :17:51.and entertainment. This was soldiers? Police? People in
:17:52. > :18:19.civilian dress? Who did this to you? His medical report says his scars
:18:20. > :18:22.are consistent with being beaten and burned and it concludes the most
:18:23. > :18:28.likely explanation is that he was, indeed, severely tortured. Stories
:18:29. > :18:34.like these are only emerging now because it has taken years for
:18:35. > :18:39.former Tamil Tigers to escape abroad and be able to speak out. We found
:18:40. > :18:44.six in the UK who also alleged torture into rehabilitation
:18:45. > :18:48.programme. Four of them have government documentation to prove
:18:49. > :18:54.they were in the camps and independent medical reports
:18:55. > :18:56.establishing torture. This is the first evidence to demonstrate what
:18:57. > :19:01.many human rights groups long suspected, that in some of the camps
:19:02. > :19:10.at least torture took place not rehabilitation. They have the
:19:11. > :19:15.characteristics I would expect of thermal contact burns. This British
:19:16. > :19:22.doctor is an expert on torture, who has examined more than 1000
:19:23. > :19:27.survivors from different countries. Sri Lankan citizens make of a large
:19:28. > :19:30.part of his workload. My fear is this is an organised activity and I
:19:31. > :19:34.find it hard to believe, if it is true, that this could be done
:19:35. > :19:40.without connivance of state authorities. Doctor Arnold and
:19:41. > :19:45.colleagues have examined 100 cases of Sri Lankans in the UK, who have
:19:46. > :19:48.been branded with hot metal rods in detention since the war. He says
:19:49. > :19:53.there is absolutely no way these would could be self`inflicted, as
:19:54. > :20:00.some Sri Lankan supporters have suggested. I have heard that rule on
:20:01. > :20:04.many occasions. Obviously, it would be a convenient thing for the Sri
:20:05. > :20:09.Lankan government for that to be believed. It would be physically
:20:10. > :20:16.impossible for someone to sit still for this, unless they were tied down
:20:17. > :20:22.or any that `` or given an anaesthetic. The long`term impact is
:20:23. > :20:27.devastating. This former rebel described horrific torture, right in
:20:28. > :20:28.heart of the capital. He has documents to prove when and where he
:20:29. > :21:41.was held. Four years later, he can't carry
:21:42. > :21:45.anything heavy, has trouble walking long distances and is still on
:21:46. > :21:49.sleeping pills. He can't even talk to his wife about what happens to
:21:50. > :21:56.him. His doctor has no doubt he was tortured. I don't think personally
:21:57. > :22:00.that he will recover from all of his symptoms and diseases he has. I
:22:01. > :22:05.think the rest will stay until the rest of his life. He has to try to
:22:06. > :22:12.arrange his life to live with the pain, to live with the anxiety. But
:22:13. > :22:19.I think and hope that, with the help of medication and therapy and
:22:20. > :22:25.multiple specialists, he will be `` that it will be more bearable. He
:22:26. > :22:33.knows exactly who was responsible for his torture and despairs of
:22:34. > :22:38.getting `` ever getting justice. But what will happen now that the Tamil
:22:39. > :22:44.Tigers have been defeated? They wanted to ensure the word went out
:22:45. > :22:48.that if they ever thought of going against the state or doing something
:22:49. > :22:54.which was perceived as antinational, then this would be their fate. We
:22:55. > :22:58.presented our new evidence of ongoing rape and torture, along with
:22:59. > :23:05.existing documentation from the UN and human rights group, to a leading
:23:06. > :23:09.British lawyer. The cases you have gathered are striking in that they
:23:10. > :23:16.have common features. In relation to how the victims are picked up, what
:23:17. > :23:21.happens to them, particularly there is evidence of cigarettes being used
:23:22. > :23:26.to burn the victims in order to get compliance. And basically to carry
:23:27. > :23:31.out torture. The use of cigarettes has long been held to be within the
:23:32. > :23:36.definition of torture and there's no dispute upon that. Is it systematic
:23:37. > :23:41.and widespread? Is plenty of evidence to keep both of those
:23:42. > :23:47.boxes. What does that mean? It all equates to a crime against inanity.
:23:48. > :23:50.Therefore, in cases like this, normally you would be looking at
:23:51. > :23:55.them being referred to the International criminal Court for
:23:56. > :23:59.further investigation. We put this to the Sri Lankan government. High
:24:00. > :24:03.Commissioner in London said it was unfair to expect them to respond
:24:04. > :24:08.fully to allegations contained in an ominous testimony. Their written
:24:09. > :24:12.statement suggested our interviewees could have been paid to discredit
:24:13. > :24:15.Sri Lanka or even tortured by the Tamil Tigers themselves. Allegations
:24:16. > :24:32.of systematic abuse are a travesty: In the Commonwealth, the lone voice
:24:33. > :24:36.of dissent is Canada. Its prime minister boycotting next week's
:24:37. > :24:41.summit in Colombo. Canadian officials speak of soft ethnic
:24:42. > :24:52.cleansing and say Canada is not in the business of accommodating evil.
:24:53. > :25:00.In a statement to the BBC, Britain's Foreign Minister said he
:25:01. > :25:04.was very concerned about reports of a culture with impunity for rape and
:25:05. > :25:12.promised to raise the issue vigourously while in shrill anger.
:25:13. > :25:17.For Ravi, the Commonwealth meeting is just another reminder of how much
:25:18. > :25:20.he has lost. He is waiting for the day he can go home.