Canadian man pleads guilty to supporting Tamil Tigers
Posted on July 3rd, 2013
Courtesy The Globe and Mail Canada
A Canadian man faces up to 15 years in prison after admitting to helping funnel sophisticated military technology to a terrorist group in Sri Lanka.
Suresh Sriskandarajah, 32, who earned university degrees in Waterloo, Ont., pleaded guilty Tuesday in Brooklyn, N.Y., to conspiring to provide material support to the Tamil Tigers.
Sriskandarajah and several co-conspirators ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” six of whom have already been convicted of terrorism offences ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” helped research and acquire aviation equipment, submarine and warship design software, night vision equipment and communications technology for the Tamil Tigers, the U.S. AttorneyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s office said in a news release announcing the plea.
Sriskandarajah used students to smuggle items in to Tamil Tiger-controlled territory in Sri Lanka between September, 2004, and April, 2006, the prosecutors said.
He graduated from the University of Waterloo with an electrical engineering degree a few months before he was arrested following a joint FBI-RCMP investigation. Sriskandarajah was the president of the Tamil StudentsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ Association at the university.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The defendant helped the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), an organization that pioneered terrorist tactics and has killed numerous civilians in brutal terrorist attacks, obtain sophisticated military technology and equipment,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Claiming to fight for freedom, the LTTE instead created a climate of fear and bloodshed, systematically assassinating those who stood in the way of their terrorist goals.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
Sriskandarajah also helped launder Tamil Tiger proceeds, the U.S. prosecutors said.
The Tamil Tigers, notorious for suicide bombings and political assassinations in their fight for an independent homeland in Sri Lanka, were declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1997 and by Canada in 2006.
Sriskandarajah, who came to Canada from northern Sri Lanka as a boy, was arrested in 2006 and was ordered extradited in 2009, though he was freed on bail.
Sriskandarajah fought his extradition up to the Supreme Court of Canada, which denied his appeal in December, 2012, and he was sent to the U.S. to face the charges. In the meantime, he had completed an MBA at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo and started a PhD while working as a consultant.
Piratheepan Nadarajah, a man from Brampton, Ont., was extradited alongside Sriskandarajah and is charged with conspiring and attempting to acquire equipment such as heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles and missile launchers, as well as conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Tamil Tigers.
Prosecutors there allege Nadarajah and co-conspirators negotiated with an undercover FBI agent to buy and export $1-million of high-powered weapons and military equipment for the Tamil Tigers.
Media reports indicate he pleaded not guilty upon his extradition.
July 3rd, 2013 at 2:23 pm
INDEED, Sri Lanka should NOT LISTEN to India on the 13th-A!
Since WHEN are VICTIMS of ABUSE required to HEED the ABUSERS after escaping their clutches?
HERE is the HYPOCRISY of Indians.:
First they initiate, train, support and fund Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka to serve their interests,
then Threaten, Invade and Occupy Sri Lanka under the guise of “Peacekeepers” when that terrorism is in FULL SWING, preventing Sri Lanka from defending itself against their terrorist surrogates,
then they CHANGE OUR CONSTITUTION and IMPOSE the 13th Amendment upon Sri Lanka at GUNPOINT to solve their own problems presumably to ensure “ethnic harmony” in Sri Lanka that they themselves disrupted,
then they allow that terrorism to GROW beyond their ability to control it,
then they declare victory and advance to the REAR back to India leaving Sri Lanka with their terrorist baby to feed,
and now, after the Tamil Separatist Monster they impregnated Sri Lanka with had been eradicated at great cost in blood and treasure, they come along demanding that Sri Lanka implement their Flawed Solution to the problem they embedded in Sri Lanka, having abandoned their own responsibility to restore the Sovereignty of Sri Lanka by disarming the LTTE!
They CREATED the”problem”.
They IMPOSED an ILLEGAL “Solution”.
They FAILED to do their part of their “solution”.
And NOW, they are demanding that Sri Lanka implements SRi Lanka’s part of their FAILED ILLEGAL “solution” that they imposed at GUNPOINT, and FAILED to HONOR themselves!
There is no other word for it, but RAPE! Under which Internationally accepted LAW is Sri Lanka compelled to deliver a RAPISTS baby?
Is there a GREATER CRIME than the STUPIDITY of OUR LEADERS who are STILL arguing this issue and TREATING India as ANYTHING MORE than a ABUSIVE NEIGHBOR who should be kicked in the behind and locked out of the house?
…………………………
We should not listen to India on 13 A – Gotabaya
DailyMirror.lk
July 2, 2013
Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said today that Sri Lanka should not listen to India with regard to the implementation of the 13th Amendment as the national problem was inherently one that should be solved by Sri Lankans.
“We should not listen to India on this; this doesn’t meant that we lose the relationship we have with India. But if there is a problem it should only be solved by Sri Lankans and not India,” he said.
He said the national question should have a homegrown solution — and the debate about 13th Amendment should not affect the relations between the two countries.
“India is our friend and we need to continue the good relations. This should not be an issue to strain our relationship, and I’m of the view that India understands that. They should understand that this is inherently a Sri Lankan issue and we have to address it with a solution that we devise” he said,
Rajapaksa said the “alienation of provinces based on ethnicity” was not the solution to the ethnic issue.
“This is not the solution; and it has failed. There are Tamils living in all parts of the country and Muslims too — so what about them? How does the Provincial Council system solve their problems? I believe in the decentralisation of administration; but I don’t believe that areas should be demarcated according to ethnicity, religion, caste or creed. This country belongs to all Sri Lankans and we have to think in those terms,” he said. (Hafeel Farisz)