KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 — The director of a controversial documentary on the bloody final days of Sri Lanka's civil war has decided to make it available for free online, following a ban on its public screening in India.
Representatives of “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka” director Callum Macrae said the full documentary will be posted online for free in India and Malaysia from tomorrow, after Indian authorities refused to grant it a censor certificate for release in theatres.
“The producers of the controversial documentary, have accused the Indian authorities of 'political censorship of unpalatable truths' for refusing a censor certificate on the grounds it “may strain friendly relations with Sri Lanka,” read a statement issued by London-based tpr media consultants.
“Claiming that 'most of the visuals are of a disturbing nature,' the Board turned down the censor certificate for the documentary,” the statement added.
Macrae's documentary, which was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, chronicled the last 138 days of the Sri Lankan civil war, which ended in 2009 after government forces killed rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in a year-long offensive.
The Sri Lankan military has since come under heavy criticism over their bloody final campaign – dubbed the northern offensive – with news reports claiming death tolls of up to 20,000 people.
Government forces were also accused of executing Prabhakaran's 12-year-old son in the immediate aftermath of the civil war. The Sri Lankan government has denied all claims.
Aside from India and Malaysia, Macrae will also be making the documentary available for free in Nepal and Sri Lanka, which have also banned the screening of No Fire Zone.
The full documentary can be found at http://nofirezone.org/watch from tomorrow onwards.
