Personal data
Name
Shobana Dharmaraja (Isaipriya)
Date of birth
02.05.1982
Age
27
Place of birth
Nedunthivu, Jaffna
Biographical details
Shobana Dharmaraja, known as Isaipriya, was a popular Tamil journalist, television broadcaster for LTTE’s television. She was born in 1982 in Nedunthivu (Delft Island, District Jaffna). In 1995 the Sri Lankan forces execute a military operation and recaptured the Jaffna Peninsula. During that time, Shoba had to move to Vanni with her family and continued her education there.
Isaipriya worked as journalist and broadcaster for the LTTE’s Oliveechchu television station in Kilinochchi.
Shoba suffered since her childhood from rheumatic valvular heart disease and as such did not provide any military service. She was also an actress, singer, and dancer. Isaipriya become a well-known media personality among Tamils in Eelam and in the diaspora. She married in 2007 and had a 6-month-old daughter called Akalya.
Indcident
Date
18.05.2009
Location
Nandikadal Laagoon – North-East coast
Description
During the closing stage of the civil war in 2009, the 27-year-old Isaipriya and her family were inside the government-declared “no-fire zone”. These safety zones including hospitals and 300,000 civilians were continuously under brutal and indiscriminate attacks of the Sri Lankan forces. Isaipriyas 6-month-old baby was killed in a shelling by the Sri Lankan air force on 15 March 2009. Isai Priya still helped during the difficult times as a volunteer at the makeshift hospital in Mullivaikal, where the final battle took place.
After the end of the war, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence, however, stated on its official website that Isaipriya -named as “Lt. Col. Issei Piriya” – had been killed in combat along with other identified LTTE leaders by the 53 Division troops of Sri Lankan army on 18th May 2009. In 2010 and 2013, the British television programme “Channel 4 News” revealed evidence proving that Isaipriya was not killed in a battle. The channel broadcasted cruel video footages of executing prisoners and photos of dead bodies, which were recorded by Sri Lankan soldiers in the final days of the war. One of the apparent victims was identified as Isaipriya. A video shows how Isaipriya was taken alive and unarmed into custody by the Sri Lankan army. Further footages show Isaipriyas dead body and those of other women, which are naked with clear signs of sexual assaults and torture on these bodies. The wounds on their heads indicate that the victims were killed with gunshot to the head after raping and torturing them. Moreover, Sri Lankan soldiers can be heard enjoying filming the dead bodies of Tamil women, making sexual comments, and celebrating their achievements. The cruel murder of the Tamil journalist, Isaipriya and other unidentified Tamil women are considerable evidences of war crime and human rights abuses carried out by the Sri Lankan army.
Legal situation (investigation/criminal proceedings)
No one of the involved soldiers or their chief commander were ever held accountable for this crime. At that time, the commanding officer of the 53 Division was Kamal Gunaratne, who is the secretary of defence in Sri Lanka today. The Secretary of the Ministry of Defence was Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is the president of Sri Lanka now. The execution of Isaipriya was considered by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and included in their report of investigation on Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government denounced the footages from Channel 4 as fake, even though the OHCHR authenticated them. The Sri Lankan government is still insisting that Isaipriya was killed in combat.