Minister tells Channel 4:
Rebut or regret
Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe
addressing Colombo based diplomats yesterday at the Presidential
Secretariat to apprise them of the bogus Channel 4 video footage said
that in the face of scientific and expert evidence proving that the
video clip was a doctored one the Government expects Channel 4 to rebut
the evidence or publish an apology of their unprofessional conduct that
has been grossly detrimental to the image of Sri Lanka.
He told the diplomats that the Government was considering taking
other remedial action to safeguard the image of the country if Channel 4
failed to take either of these steps.
At least 40 members of the Diplomatic Community were present at the
presentation made by three Sri Lankan resident experts in the field of
study of computer, video, digital and mobile phone images, and a Sri
Lankan of internationally renowned in this field from Australia who had
also sent his own scientific observations, to show that the Channel 4
video clip was doctored to carry an image detrimental to Sri Lanka.
Former Secretary, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Dr. Palitha Kohona said
the Channel 4 video and earlier false news reports about the situation
in the final days of the battle to defeat terrorism, showed the
necessity to change the attitude that prevailed among many that whatever
Sri Lanka does is wrong or has to be shown in a matter that would harm
the image of the country.
Attorney General Mohan Peiris said the Government was considering
appropriate measures to meet with the challenge thrown by Channel 4 and
others who had aired these deliberately false and highly damaging images
about Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces.
Those who made presentations to the diplomats at the Presidential
Secretariat were Dr. Chathura Ranjan de Silva - senior lecturer of the
Department of Computer Science, University of Moratuwa, Brigadier Prasad
Samarasinghe, Head of the Sri Lanka Army Signal Corps and Major P. A.
Bandara of the Media Centre for National Security.
Siri Hewawitharana who is a Digital Video Developer in Australia, and
former head of Cisco’s Global Broadcast and Digital Video Practice had
sent his observations, which agreed that the Channel 4 video was a
doctored image not made on a mobile phone, as claimed, but on a more
sophisticated camcorder or video recorder.
Minister Samarasinghe also said that it was highly unprofessional for
Channel 4 News to have aired the video sent by a hitherto unknown
organisation named Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, which came to
public notice only with its first blog on the internet in August 2009
and a Press Release the previous month.
“The four separate scientific researches into the alleged UK’s
Channel 4 telecast video clip has established that the incident
portrayed was merely a fabricated production which contained many
technical improvements to support the dastardly motivated will of its
producers”, the Minister said.
Accordingly the four independent professionals did a thorough and
comprehensive analysis on the validity of the video clip. Among these
professionals are Siri Hewawitharana, who is an Australian Digital Video
Developer, The former head of Cisco’s global broadcast and digital video
practice and Executive Director at IPTV System, Dr Chathura Ranjan de
Silva who is the Senior lecturer of the Department of Computer Science
and Engineering and the Director for the Centre of Instructional
Technology for the University of Moratuwa, Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe
who is the Head of the Sri Lanka Army Signal Corps and Major P.A.
Bandara of the MCNS. When looking at these four investigations one can
see that they have all come to a common conclusion.
Firstly that this footage was not videoed using a mobile phone camera
as was stated in the Broadcast but rather by a device such as a digital
camcorder.
Secondly that the audio track was clearly dubbed and, thirdly the
sound of the shooting was coming from a long distance rather than that
of a gun from point blank range as shown in the video.
Clarifying his findings Major P.A Bandara showed that the so called
previously “killed” man has his leg kept parallel to the ground in one
frame. As soon as the other man is “shot” the dead man’s leg is lifted
up. He also observed that one of the so called soldiers was wearing a
white T-shirt underneath. It is a uniform regulation for soldiers of the
Sri Lankan Army to wear an Olive green T-shirt issued by the Army under
their uniform and therefore white T-shirts are not acceptable.
He also observed that one of the so called soldiers had overgrown
hair which is also unacceptable. Meanwhile he showed that the blood
stains of a so called victim were centralised to one area despite the
presence of water which usually dilutes and spreads it.
When looking closely at the leg of one of the so called “victims” one
can clearly see that his leg is held in a stiff position despite him
being shot. Another key observation made by the Major is that the skin
complexions of the so called victims are fairer than those of the
average Sri Lankan citizens living in the North. Therefore he concluded
that this footage is without a doubt a fraud.
Siri Hewawitharana in his analysis had stated that: “Looking at the
footage the first thing I found strange is, was the high quality of
video lack of cascading effects and motion blur that is associated with
the mobile video coding.
I got hold of the original video that was in Quick Time formats as
well as the other that was in AVI Format and put through various tests
to see the origin of the video from the mobile source. Looking at his
results it is evident that this video never came from a mobile phone.” |