Mexico, Sri Lanka & Syria Hearings of the People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists

A Safer World For The Truth

A Safer World For The Truth: In the last two months, we organised three case hearings of the People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists in Mexico City and in the Hague, on the murder of Mexican journalist Miguel Ángel López Velasco, Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge and Syrian journalist Nabil Al-Sharbaji.

We are grateful to the almost 10,000 people who followed the hearings remotely from all around the world.

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The closing hearing, originally scheduled for 20 June, will take place on 19 September 2022 in the Nieuwe Kerk in the Hague. This event will be publicly accessible, and further information will follow in our next newsletter.

During the Sri Lanka hearing, 11 Sri Lankan organisations and 56 individuals undersigned a statement to express their support to the People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists.

Ahimsa Wickrematunge, daughter of Lasantha Wickrematunge wrote a compelling article at the start of the Sri Lanka hearing:

“I continue to look to the international community and now turn to the People’s Tribunal to give our loved ones and our families the justice they deserve.”

The Mexico hearing on the Murder of Journalist Miguel Ángel López Velasco (pen name: Milo Vela) included a performance by renowned Mexican singer Vivir Quintana, who wrote a song specifically to commemorate Milo Vela, and the other journalists killed in Veracruz. This was an especially powerful moment, also in light of the continuing high rate of murders of journalists in Mexico. 11 journalists have been killed since January 2022. In 95% of these cases, the perpetrators are not held accountable.

At the Syria hearing, physical evidence was presented at the Tribunal: authentic reproductions provided by Mansour Omari, which were previously exhibited in the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington (read the Washington Post article about it here). Nabil hand wrote the majority of them. They document the names of those detained with Nabil, and the scraps were smuggled out of the prison afterwards and preserved by Mansour.

Following the Syria Case Hearing, a peaceful gathering to commemorate murders of journalists, including Nabil Al Sharbaji, took place in the Hague.

Mexico, Sri Lanka & Syria Hearings of the People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists

Mexico Hearing

“The murder of journalists is not the cause. It is the consequence. It’s a reflection of structural problems: of corruption, of the ineffectiveness of institutions, of how power works.” – Mexican investigative journalist Anabel Hernández testifying as a witness on the first day of the Mexico case hearing

During the hearing, family members, journalists and a former prosecutor testified about the systemic pattern of murders of journalists. In the case of Milo Vela, his son Miguel and daughter Yazmin testified for the first time.

Sri Lanka Hearing

On Day 1, witness Dr. Paikasothy Sarvanamuttu gave a detailed overview of the historical context in which the murder of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge took place. Bashana Abeywardane of Journalists for Democracy, placed this historical context into its present reality, saying ‘as a journalist “you either live by the rules or go against it and die.”

“I have no words to describe my gratitude to everyone involved and each and every person who provided invaluable and exhaustive testimony.

This they did, knowing full well the dangers it involved yet their desire to see justice for my father and to bring to light the dangers faced everyday by journalists in Sri Lanka, overrode any concerns of personal safety.” – Ahimsa Wickrematunge, daughter of Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge.

On day 1 of the Syria Hearing on the Murder of Journalist Nabil Al-Sharbaji, journalists Paul Conroy & Edith Bouvier testified on the attack on US journalist Marie Colvin.

“The press are the eyes and ears of the world. Because when you have a regime that really does bad things, this is why they attack the press – if there’s no one to get this out. 6 hours later- Marie and Remi were dead- as a direct consequence of reporting- we had the temerity of broadcasting live from hell. If we can’t tell human stories- that’s what we should be doing.” – Journalist Paul Conroy at day 1 of the Syria case hearing.

06-06-2022

[Images: Graciela Rossetto]

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