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INTELSAT CORPORATION BREAKS IT WORD AND STILL BROADCASTING LTTE PROGRAMS TO SOUTH ASIABy Walter JayawardhanaThe Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington DC complained to the Justice
Department and the State Department that the Washington based Intelsat
Corporation is breaking US law by continuing to broadcast the propaganda
television and radio services of the foreign terrorist organization
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by a satellite they own despite
public assurances given weeks ago to the contrary. The Sri Lankan ambassador, Bernard Goonetileke told the Justice and
State Department authorities Intelsat12, a satellite owned by the
worlds leading Satellite Company let the state department listed
foreign terrorist organization , who are also known as Tamil Tigers
to beam the television broadcasts and radio broadcasts to South Asian
countries. Embassy spokesperson Rajika Jayatilaka said in a telephone interview
that she contacted David Synkfield , Senior Vice President in charge
of customer operations and Engineering of the Corporation and he admitted
that the South Asian beams are still working for the terrorist group. David Synkfield also failed to return the call though he was not
traveling. In a press statement dated April 10 the Intelsat Corporation
said, Intelsat officials, including its technical experts, met
with Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States, Bernard Goonetilleke,
on 10 April to discuss the steps Intelsat is taking to address the
unauthorized use of one of its satellites by the LTTE. During the
meeting, Intelsat's General Counsel, Phillip Spector, a Havard educated
lawyer said, "Intelsat does not tolerate terrorists or others
operating illegally on its satellites. Since we first learned of the
LTTE's signal piracy, we have been actively pursuing a number of technical
alternatives to halt the transmissions. We are clear in our resolve
to ending this terrorist organization's unauthorized use of our satellite." Sri Lanka embassy in Washington DC said later after much delay, Intelsat
stated during the weekend of April 21-22 they switched off the transponder
of the satellite the LTTE were broadcasting to Europe. But Lyngsat.com, a website who publicizes satellite broadcasts in
a program updated on May 1 said the National TV of Tamil Eelam and
Voice of Tiger Radio, all LTTE programs are being beamed by Intelsat
12. The website , an authority on satellite broadcasting publicizes the
programs constantly after approval from the producers and watching
the programs. The National TV of Tamil Eelam , according to the published
programs is broadcasting to South Asia at 18.00-21.30 UTC. The Voice
of Tiger Radio is broadcasting at 6.09 and 18.00-21 ist. Lyng Sat
lists, the source of updates as a man named D.Prabhakaran. The Tiger
Voice gives a fictitious address of Muthalmaiccheylakam, Kilinochchi
as its address. Meanwhile , the Radio Broadcasts Weblog, by the Radio Netherlands
World Wide reported, Despite the widely-reported statement by
Intelsat that it has switched off National Television of Tamil Eelam
from its satellite, we received a report stating that the channel
was, in fact, still being seen on the Intelsat12 satellite (45°E)
as of 26 April. They published the news since Radio Netherlands
had earlier published an AFP item saying the satellite had switched
off the programs. The report was in reference to LTTEs European
broadcasts using Intelsat 12. In their previous press statement the Intel sat said, The Sri
Lanka Embassy and Intelsat agree that these illegal transmissions
by the LTTE are a violation of Sri Lankan and U.S. laws. Although Intelsat claimed that the terrorist group was pirating their satellite this correspondent could not find any evidence that it could be possible with Intelsat 12 satellite and the LTTE in a statement denied that they were pirates |
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