3 arrested at KL screening of Sri Lankan docu

Three organisers of an allegedly unauthorised public screening of a controversial documentary on the Sri Lanka civil war were arrested at the event in Kuala Lumpur last night.

The screening of 'No Fire Zone: In the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka', an investigatory documentary exposing the massacre of Tamils by the government army duing the final weeks of the Sri Lankan Civil War, was jointly organised by two NGOs - Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall's (KLSCAH) civil rights committee and Komas (Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat).

Some 30 enforcers from the Home Ministry and Immigration Department arrived at the KLSCAH  auditorium some 10 minutes after the screening started.

They demanded the organiser halt the event as the film has yet to be approved by the film censorship board as required under the Film Censorship Act 2002.

They also attempted to confiscate the copy of the film and the computer that was used to screen the documentary.

After a round of negotiations, the enforcers eventually allowed the screening to proceed with the organiser promising to cooperate afterwards.

The enforcers then waited until after the screening and returned to the auditorium demanding to record the Mykad details of some 100 members of the audience, however a lawyer in the audience objected.

The enforcers relented and attempted to bring several organisers back to the home ministry office at Jalan Duta for questioning, but the same lawyer argued that the home ministry officers have no power to make any arrests.

Following a lengthy negotiation, both parties compromised to allow three organisers to be questioned at Dang Wangi police station.

The three were Arul Prakash (above), Lena Hendry and Anna Har from Komas.

During the operation, the enforcers even demanded to bring Malaysiakini chief reporter Abdul Rahim Sabri to the police station but were again stopped by the lawyer.

They relented after going through the journalist's bag.

Highly acclaimed series

According to the organiser, 'No Fire Zone' is the culmination of a three-year investigation that has included two award-winning TV documentaries broadcast on UK's Channel 4 - 'Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields', first screened in June 2011, and 'Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished', first screened in March 2012. 

The films themselves were built on the pioneering work of Channel 4 News which led the way in telling the world of the crimes committed at the end of the war. 

The first two documentaries had a significant global impact and were aired in Parliaments worldwide and in the UN, the latter which commented that the film “was particularly powerful in informing member states of the violations reported to have taken place.” 

The team behind the films were later nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.

KLSCAH's civil right committee chairperson Liau Kok Fah (left) later told the media that the Sri Lanka High Commissioner had initially contacted the organiser after the event was publicised, asking them not to screen the film .  

However the request was declined.

“We welcomed them to send their officers to attend the screening, because this would be a good platform for them to tell their side of the story.

“His (the commissioner’s) response then was that they might send their men, but now I guess not,” said Liau.