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Minister tells Channel 4 :
Rebut or regret
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Analysis on the video clip published
by channel - 4, UK. (Presentation made by Brigadier Prasad
Samarasinghe, Chief Signal Officer of SLA) |
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.
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A meeting was held at the
Presidential Secretariat yesterday chaired by Human Rights
and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe to
apprise the diplomatic community on the telecast of a
spurious video film by Channel 4 to discredit the
Government. Associated with the Minister are former Foreign
Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona, Attorney-General Mohan Peiris,
Director General, Media Centre for National Security,
Lakshman Hulugalle and Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya
Nanayakkara. Picture by Ranjith Jayaweera |
"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 Chief Signal Officer of the Sri Lanka Army Signal Corps. 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.
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."
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