Lena Hendry, our colleague and a staff of KOMAS, is currently undergoing trial in the criminal court for allegedly breaking the law by screening NO FIRE ZONE: THE KILLING FIELDS OF SRI LANKA, a human rights documentary film about war crimes committed during the civil war in Sri Lanka.
By Pusat KOMAS
Kuala Lumpur, December 14, 2015: Today, Lena Hendry, our colleague and a staff of KOMAS, is undergoing trial in the criminal court for allegedly breaking the law by screening NO FIRE ZONE: THE KILLING FIELDS OF SRI LANKA, a human rights documentary film about war crimes committed during the civil war in Sri Lanka.
She is the first human rights activist in Malaysia to be charged under section 6(1) and (2)of the Film Censorship Act which we feel has been arbitrarily used and politically initiated to stop the dissemination and discussion of important information about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka during a very difficult post-war period in the country’s political history.
We have reason to believe that this action was brought about by a complaint made by the ambassador of Sri Lanka in Malaysia at that time who had sent a letter to the home ministry as well as the organizers stating his unhappiness over the film screening as he claimed “it contains lies about Sri Lanka”.
Click here to read more, and here to sign a petition to have the charges against Lena Hendry dropped.