The United States is now relying heavily on foreign intelligence services to capture, interrogate and detain all but the highest-level terrorist suspects seized outside the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to current and former American government officials.
The change represents a significant loosening of the reins for the United States, which has worked closely with allies to combat violent extremism since the 9/11 attacks but is now pushing that cooperation to new limits.
In the past 10 months, for example, about a half-dozen midlevel financiers and logistics experts working with Al Qaeda have been captured and are being held by intelligence services in four Middle Eastern countries after the United States provided information that led to their arrests by local security services, a former American counterterrorism official said.
In addition, Pakistan’s intelligence and security services captured a Saudi suspect and a Yemeni suspect this year with the help of American intelligence and logistical support, Pakistani officials said. The two are the highest-ranking Qaeda operatives captured since President Obama took office, but they are still being held by Pakistan, which has shared information from their interrogations with the United States, the official said.
The current approach, which began in the last two years of the Bush administration and has gained momentum under Mr. Obama, is driven in part by court rulings and policy changes that have closed the secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency, and all but ended the transfer of prisoners from outside Iraq and Afghanistan to American military prisons.
Human rights advocates say that relying on foreign governments to hold and question terrorist suspects could carry significant risks. It could increase the potential for abuse at the hands of foreign interrogators and could also yield bad intelligence, they say.
The fate of many terrorist suspects whom the Bush administration sent to foreign countries remains uncertain. One suspect, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was captured by the C.I.A. in late 2001 and sent to Libya, was recently reported to have died there in Libyan custody.
“As a practical matter you have to rely on partner governments, so the focus should be on pressing and assisting those governments to handle those cases professionally,” said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.
The United States itself has not detained any high-level terrorist suspects outside Iraq and Afghanistan since Mr. Obama took office, and the question of where to detain the most senior terrorist suspects on a long-term basis is being debated within the new administration. Even deciding where the two Qaeda suspects in Pakistani custody will be kept over the long term is “extremely, extremely sensitive right now,” a senior American military official said, adding, “They’re both bad dudes. The issue is: where do they get parked so they stay parked?”
How the United States is dealing with terrorism suspects beyond those already in the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was a question Mr. Obama did not address in the speech he gave Thursday about his antiterrorism policies. While he said he might seek to create a new system that would allow preventive detention inside the United States, the government currently has no obvious long-term detention center for imprisoning terrorism suspects without court oversight.
Mr. Obama has said he still intends to close the Guantánamo prison by January, despite misgivings in Congress, and the Supreme Court has ruled that inmates there may challenge their detention before federal judges. Some suspects are being imprisoned without charges at a United States air base in Afghanistan, but a federal court has ruled that at least some of them may also file habeas corpus lawsuits to challenge their detentions.
American officials say that in the last years of the Bush administration and now on Mr. Obama’s watch, the balance has shifted toward leaving all but the most high-level terrorist suspects in foreign rather than American custody. The United States has repatriated hundreds of detainees held at prisons in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan, but the current approach is different because it seeks to keep the prisoners out of American custody altogether.
How the United States deals with terrorism suspects remains a contentious issue in Congress.
Leon E. Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., said in February that the agency might continue its program of extraordinary rendition, in which captured terrorism suspects are transferred to other countries without extradition proceedings.
He said the C.I.A. would be likely to continue to transfer detainees from their place of capture to other countries, either their home countries or nations that intended to bring charges against them.
As a safeguard against torture, Mr. Panetta said, the United States would rely on diplomatic assurances of good treatment. The Bush administration sought the same assurances, which critics say are ineffective.
A half-dozen current and former American intelligence and counterterrorism officials and allied officials were interviewed for this article, but all spoke on the condition of anonymity because the detention and interrogation programs are classified.
Officials say the United States has learned so much about Al Qaeda and other militant groups since the 9/11 attacks that it can safely rely on foreign partners to detain and question more suspects. “It’s the preferred method now,” one former counterterrorism official said.
The Obama administration’s policies will probably become clearer after two task forces the president created in January report to him in July on detainee policy, interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition.
In many instances now, allies are using information provided by the United States to pick up terrorism suspects on their own territory — including the two suspects seized in Pakistan this year.
The Saudi militant, Zabi al-Taifi, was picked up by Pakistani commandos in a dawn raid at a safe house outside Peshawar on Jan. 22, an operation conducted with the help of the C.I.A.
A Pakistani official said the Yemeni suspect, Abu Sufyan al-Yemeni, was a Qaeda paramilitary commander who was on C.I.A. and Pakistani lists of the top 20 Qaeda operatives. He was believed to be a conduit for communications between Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and cells in East Africa, Iran, Yemen and elsewhere. American and Pakistani intelligence officials say they believe that Mr. Yemeni, who was arrested Feb. 24 by Pakistani authorities in Quetta, helped arrange travel and training for Qaeda operatives from various parts of the Muslim world to the Pakistani tribal areas.
He is now in the custody of Pakistan’s main spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, but his fate is unclear. The Pakistani official said that he would remain in Pakistani hands, but that it would be difficult to try him because the evidence against him came from informers.
American officials said the United States would still take custody of the most senior Qaeda operatives captured in the future. As a model, they cited the case of Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, an Iraqi Kurd who is said to have joined Al Qaeda in the late 1990s and risen to become a top aide to Osama bin Laden, and who was captured by a foreign security service in 2006. He was handed over to the C.I.A., which transferred him to Guantánamo Bay in April 2007. He was one of the last detainees shipped there
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Scientists admit: we were wrong about 'E'
It was billed as the one of the most dramatic warnings the world has ever received over the dangers of ecstasy. A study from one of America's leading universities concluded that taking the drug for just one evening could leave clubbers with irreversible brain damage, and trigger the onset of Parkinson's disease.
The study, published in the eminent journal Science last September, had an immediate impact. Doctors and anti-drug crusaders spoke of a 'neurological time bomb' facing the young. Others suggested that taking one of the tablets was the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with the brain, and demanded tighter 'anti-rave' laws to deal with it.
But today, scientists are facing up to the humiliation of admitting that the stark results they reported in the study were not a breakthrough but a terrible, humiliating blunder.
The study was based on the fact that laboratory monkeys and baboons had a severe reaction to the drug when it was injected in small doses. But it emerged this weekend that the vials of liquid did not contain ecstasy. Instead, the animals received a dose of methamphetamine, or speed - a drug widely known to affect the body's dopamine system. The tubes had somehow been mislabelled by the supplier.
In this week's Science, the scientists will publish a retraction of their original study, reigniting the row over the role of those who investigate ecstasy, as well as the real risks or benefits of the drug.
In academic circles, the mistake is a severe embarrassment to Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, which attracts millions of dollars of research funding from both government and companies. Questions are already being asked about whether the lead researcher, George Ricaurte, was inherently biased against the drug.
The mistake only came to light when follow-up tests gave conflicting results. The original study reported how two out of 10 animals died quickly after their second or third dose. Six weeks later, the dopamine levels in the surviving animals were down by 65 per cent, leading Ricaurte and his colleagues to conclude that it could provoke the onset of Parkinson's, which is linked to a loss of dopamine-producing cells.
He said at the time: 'It is possible that some of the more recent cases of suspected young-onset Parkinson's disease might be related, but that this link has not been recognised.'
When the study was published last September, a chorus of experts saw it as evidence of drug damage. Professor Colin Blakemore of Oxford University, soon to be the new head of the Medical Research Council, said it provided further evidence that 'ecstasy can be toxic to nerve cells'.
Dr Alan Leshner, chief executive of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, which publishes the journal, went as far as to describe taking ecstasy as playing 'Russian roulette' with brain function.
He added: 'This study showed that even very occasional use can have long-lasting effects on many different brain systems. It sends an important message to young people - don't experiment with your brain.'
Yesterday, Ricaurte was attempting to put a brave face on the calamity. He is under attack from all sides, and has already been accused of rushing his study into print because Congress was looking at a bill known as the Anti-Rave Act, which would punish club owners who knew that drugs such as ecstasy were being used on their premises.
Ricaurte has denied political bias. He said yesterday that his laboratory made 'a simple human error', adding: 'We're scientists, not chemists.' Asked why the vials of liquid were not checked before being used on the animals, he replied: 'We're not chemists. We get hundreds of chemicals here - it's not customary to check them.'
It is unusual for Science to have to publish a retraction, but that is exactly the right thing to do, according to Joe Collier, professor of medicines policy at St George's Hospital Medical School.
'People must realise that mistakes are made, even by scientists,' said Collier. 'It is embarrassing - a lot of self-questioning will be going on over there - but it's important we learn from this.'
Over the past five years, controversy has raged about the real dangers of ecstasy, a drug which is taken by around a million clubbers in Britain every weekend.
Some studies have suggested that ecstasy has no long-term impact on the levels of the hormone serotonin in the brain, while others have suggested that it leaves clubbers feeling depressed and unable to concentrate.
The controversy is not likely to go away quickly while the scientists themselves are caught up in such a political and academic minefield
The study, published in the eminent journal Science last September, had an immediate impact. Doctors and anti-drug crusaders spoke of a 'neurological time bomb' facing the young. Others suggested that taking one of the tablets was the equivalent of playing Russian roulette with the brain, and demanded tighter 'anti-rave' laws to deal with it.
But today, scientists are facing up to the humiliation of admitting that the stark results they reported in the study were not a breakthrough but a terrible, humiliating blunder.
The study was based on the fact that laboratory monkeys and baboons had a severe reaction to the drug when it was injected in small doses. But it emerged this weekend that the vials of liquid did not contain ecstasy. Instead, the animals received a dose of methamphetamine, or speed - a drug widely known to affect the body's dopamine system. The tubes had somehow been mislabelled by the supplier.
In this week's Science, the scientists will publish a retraction of their original study, reigniting the row over the role of those who investigate ecstasy, as well as the real risks or benefits of the drug.
In academic circles, the mistake is a severe embarrassment to Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, which attracts millions of dollars of research funding from both government and companies. Questions are already being asked about whether the lead researcher, George Ricaurte, was inherently biased against the drug.
The mistake only came to light when follow-up tests gave conflicting results. The original study reported how two out of 10 animals died quickly after their second or third dose. Six weeks later, the dopamine levels in the surviving animals were down by 65 per cent, leading Ricaurte and his colleagues to conclude that it could provoke the onset of Parkinson's, which is linked to a loss of dopamine-producing cells.
He said at the time: 'It is possible that some of the more recent cases of suspected young-onset Parkinson's disease might be related, but that this link has not been recognised.'
When the study was published last September, a chorus of experts saw it as evidence of drug damage. Professor Colin Blakemore of Oxford University, soon to be the new head of the Medical Research Council, said it provided further evidence that 'ecstasy can be toxic to nerve cells'.
Dr Alan Leshner, chief executive of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, which publishes the journal, went as far as to describe taking ecstasy as playing 'Russian roulette' with brain function.
He added: 'This study showed that even very occasional use can have long-lasting effects on many different brain systems. It sends an important message to young people - don't experiment with your brain.'
Yesterday, Ricaurte was attempting to put a brave face on the calamity. He is under attack from all sides, and has already been accused of rushing his study into print because Congress was looking at a bill known as the Anti-Rave Act, which would punish club owners who knew that drugs such as ecstasy were being used on their premises.
Ricaurte has denied political bias. He said yesterday that his laboratory made 'a simple human error', adding: 'We're scientists, not chemists.' Asked why the vials of liquid were not checked before being used on the animals, he replied: 'We're not chemists. We get hundreds of chemicals here - it's not customary to check them.'
It is unusual for Science to have to publish a retraction, but that is exactly the right thing to do, according to Joe Collier, professor of medicines policy at St George's Hospital Medical School.
'People must realise that mistakes are made, even by scientists,' said Collier. 'It is embarrassing - a lot of self-questioning will be going on over there - but it's important we learn from this.'
Over the past five years, controversy has raged about the real dangers of ecstasy, a drug which is taken by around a million clubbers in Britain every weekend.
Some studies have suggested that ecstasy has no long-term impact on the levels of the hormone serotonin in the brain, while others have suggested that it leaves clubbers feeling depressed and unable to concentrate.
The controversy is not likely to go away quickly while the scientists themselves are caught up in such a political and academic minefield
HEART DISEASE& STROKE: THE FACTS
The UK has one of the highest rates of death from heart disease in the world - one British adult dies from the disease every three minutes - and stroke is the country's third biggest killer, claiming 70,000 lives each year.
Heart attacks occur when blood flow is blocked, often by a blood clot, while strokes are caused either by blocked or burst blood vessels in the brain. A range of other conditions, including heart failure, when blood is not pumped properly around the body, and congenital heart defects can also cause long term problems, and even death, for sufferers.
Left atrium - The blood returns from the lungs to the upper left chamber of the heart where it is again briefly stored until the atrium fills, before flowing on to the left ventricle.Right atrium - “Impure” or “blue” blood returning from the atrium enters the heart here, where it is held until the atrium - or chamber - fills up.Left ventricle - This is the most powerful chamber of the heart. It pumps the newly oxygenated blood to the rest of the body through the aorta, or main artery.Right ventricle - This powerful pump propels blood into the pulmonary artery, the tube which carries blood to the lungs, where carbon dioxide in the blood is removed and oxygen added.
Heart attacks occur when blood flow is blocked, often by a blood clot, while strokes are caused either by blocked or burst blood vessels in the brain. A range of other conditions, including heart failure, when blood is not pumped properly around the body, and congenital heart defects can also cause long term problems, and even death, for sufferers.
Left atrium - The blood returns from the lungs to the upper left chamber of the heart where it is again briefly stored until the atrium fills, before flowing on to the left ventricle.Right atrium - “Impure” or “blue” blood returning from the atrium enters the heart here, where it is held until the atrium - or chamber - fills up.Left ventricle - This is the most powerful chamber of the heart. It pumps the newly oxygenated blood to the rest of the body through the aorta, or main artery.Right ventricle - This powerful pump propels blood into the pulmonary artery, the tube which carries blood to the lungs, where carbon dioxide in the blood is removed and oxygen added.
Former South Korea president leaps to death in ravine
South Korea was in a state of shock yesterday following the suicide of Roh Moo-hyun, its former president, who had been embroiled in a multi-million dollar corruption scandal.
Roh, 62, died from massive head injuries after leaping into a ravine while on a climbing trip near his home in Bongha village near the south-east coast, according to local media reports.
The former democracy activist, whose five-year term ended in February 2008, was said to have been under intense pressure amid allegations that he had accepted US$6m in bribes while in office.
Roh, who rose from an impoverished childhood to occupy the presidential Blue House, left a suicide note in which he hinted at ill health and talked of being unable to confront "countless agonies down the road".
The note, the text of which was released by the Yonhap news agency, said: "The rest of my life would only be a burden for others. I can't do anything because I'm not healthy. I can't read books, nor can I write. Don't be too sad. Isn't life and death all part of nature? Don't be sorry. Don't blame anybody. It's fate. Please cremate me. And please leave a small tombstone near home. I've long thought about that."
Lee Myung-bak, the country's present leader, said Roh's death had left him "stricken with sorrow and deep sadness". He broke away from talks with Vaclav Claus, the Czech president, to instruct authorities to organise a state funeral.
Roh's predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, speculated that his "lifelong comrade in democracy" had been unable to bear the "intense pressure" caused by media reports about his family's alleged involvement in the scandal.
Roh had faced police questioning over allegations that he had taken the bribes from a wealthy shoemaker via his wife and other relatives. He admitted that his wife had accepted US$1m but insisted it was to settle a debt, not a bribe. He said that he believed that US$5m given to another relative was intended as a legitimate business investment.
Despite his denials, late last month Roh publicly apologised for the disruption caused by the reports. "I feel ashamed before my fellow citizens," he said, before being led away by prosecutors for questioning. "I am sorry for having disappointed you."
Local reports said that Roh had left home early yesterday to climb a nearby peak with a bodyguard and fell 20 to 30 metres after jumping from a cliff known as Owl Rock. He was taken to Busan University Hospital but pronounced dead at around 9.30am local time.
Despite the corruption charges, reports said Roh had been leading a quiet life and was often seen around the village, smoking cigarettes and drinking with locals.
Roh, a self-trained lawyer who defended students accused of sedition during South Korea's period of military rule, won a surprise victory in 2002 and took office the following year with promises to fight corruption and strengthen South Korea's fledgling democracy.
Critical of the Bush administration's foreign policy, Roh sought to improve ties with North Korea, and in 2007 signed a string of economic agreements with the secretive regime's leader, Kim Jong-il, at a rare inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.
However, initial support for his "sunshine policy" of engagement - begun by his predecessor - and unconditional aid weakened towards the end of his presidency.
Roh, 62, died from massive head injuries after leaping into a ravine while on a climbing trip near his home in Bongha village near the south-east coast, according to local media reports.
The former democracy activist, whose five-year term ended in February 2008, was said to have been under intense pressure amid allegations that he had accepted US$6m in bribes while in office.
Roh, who rose from an impoverished childhood to occupy the presidential Blue House, left a suicide note in which he hinted at ill health and talked of being unable to confront "countless agonies down the road".
The note, the text of which was released by the Yonhap news agency, said: "The rest of my life would only be a burden for others. I can't do anything because I'm not healthy. I can't read books, nor can I write. Don't be too sad. Isn't life and death all part of nature? Don't be sorry. Don't blame anybody. It's fate. Please cremate me. And please leave a small tombstone near home. I've long thought about that."
Lee Myung-bak, the country's present leader, said Roh's death had left him "stricken with sorrow and deep sadness". He broke away from talks with Vaclav Claus, the Czech president, to instruct authorities to organise a state funeral.
Roh's predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, speculated that his "lifelong comrade in democracy" had been unable to bear the "intense pressure" caused by media reports about his family's alleged involvement in the scandal.
Roh had faced police questioning over allegations that he had taken the bribes from a wealthy shoemaker via his wife and other relatives. He admitted that his wife had accepted US$1m but insisted it was to settle a debt, not a bribe. He said that he believed that US$5m given to another relative was intended as a legitimate business investment.
Despite his denials, late last month Roh publicly apologised for the disruption caused by the reports. "I feel ashamed before my fellow citizens," he said, before being led away by prosecutors for questioning. "I am sorry for having disappointed you."
Local reports said that Roh had left home early yesterday to climb a nearby peak with a bodyguard and fell 20 to 30 metres after jumping from a cliff known as Owl Rock. He was taken to Busan University Hospital but pronounced dead at around 9.30am local time.
Despite the corruption charges, reports said Roh had been leading a quiet life and was often seen around the village, smoking cigarettes and drinking with locals.
Roh, a self-trained lawyer who defended students accused of sedition during South Korea's period of military rule, won a surprise victory in 2002 and took office the following year with promises to fight corruption and strengthen South Korea's fledgling democracy.
Critical of the Bush administration's foreign policy, Roh sought to improve ties with North Korea, and in 2007 signed a string of economic agreements with the secretive regime's leader, Kim Jong-il, at a rare inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.
However, initial support for his "sunshine policy" of engagement - begun by his predecessor - and unconditional aid weakened towards the end of his presidency.
New light on Down's cancer link
Scientists may have solved the mystery of why people with Down's syndrome seem to have a lower risk of some cancers.
The extra copy of chromosome 21 which causes Down's appears to contain a gene that protects from solid cancerous tumours, tests on mice suggest.
The gene seems to interfere with signals a tumour relies on to grow. The finding raises hope of new ways to prevent and treat cancer.
The study by the Children's Hospital of Boston appears in the journal Nature.
Humans usually have two copies of the 23 chromosomes that together contain all our genetic information, one from each parent.
Down's syndrome is a genetic disorder which results from the presence of an extra, third copy of chromosome 21.
It has been known for some time that individuals with Down's syndrome get certain types of cancer less often than those without the condition.
However, the reason why has been unclear.
The latest study showed that having an extra copy of one of the genes located on chromosome 21 - a gene called Dscr1 - is sufficient to slow cancer growth in mice.
The gene seems to work in combination with another gene also found on chromosome 21 to interfere with the signals a tumour relies upon to stimulate growth of its own blood vessels.
Without those vessels feeding the tumour with its own supply of blood it cannot thrive.
Inspiration
Writing in the journal, the researchers, led by Dr Sandra Ryeom, said: "It is, perhaps, inspiring that the Down's syndrome population provides us with new insight into mechanisms that regulate cancer growth and, by so doing, identifies potential targets for tumour prevention and therapy."
Dr Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke, a Cancer Research UK scientist at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "This finding raises several important questions about the roles of other chromosome 21 genes that might help regulate tumour growth.
"The next stage is to think about how we might be able to exploit this research to improve cancer treatments in the future."
Stuart Mills, of the Down's Syndrome Association, said: "We have known for some time that people with Down's syndrome have lower incidences of cancer, apart from leukaemia, than the rest of the population.
"This is one of the first studies to examine the reasons why, and we welcome its findings. We will be following further research with great interest."
The extra copy of chromosome 21 which causes Down's appears to contain a gene that protects from solid cancerous tumours, tests on mice suggest.
The gene seems to interfere with signals a tumour relies on to grow. The finding raises hope of new ways to prevent and treat cancer.
The study by the Children's Hospital of Boston appears in the journal Nature.
Humans usually have two copies of the 23 chromosomes that together contain all our genetic information, one from each parent.
Down's syndrome is a genetic disorder which results from the presence of an extra, third copy of chromosome 21.
It has been known for some time that individuals with Down's syndrome get certain types of cancer less often than those without the condition.
However, the reason why has been unclear.
The latest study showed that having an extra copy of one of the genes located on chromosome 21 - a gene called Dscr1 - is sufficient to slow cancer growth in mice.
The gene seems to work in combination with another gene also found on chromosome 21 to interfere with the signals a tumour relies upon to stimulate growth of its own blood vessels.
Without those vessels feeding the tumour with its own supply of blood it cannot thrive.
Inspiration
Writing in the journal, the researchers, led by Dr Sandra Ryeom, said: "It is, perhaps, inspiring that the Down's syndrome population provides us with new insight into mechanisms that regulate cancer growth and, by so doing, identifies potential targets for tumour prevention and therapy."
Dr Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke, a Cancer Research UK scientist at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "This finding raises several important questions about the roles of other chromosome 21 genes that might help regulate tumour growth.
"The next stage is to think about how we might be able to exploit this research to improve cancer treatments in the future."
Stuart Mills, of the Down's Syndrome Association, said: "We have known for some time that people with Down's syndrome have lower incidences of cancer, apart from leukaemia, than the rest of the population.
"This is one of the first studies to examine the reasons why, and we welcome its findings. We will be following further research with great interest."
UN chief flies into Sri Lanka as Tamils' tales of terror emerge
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday visited a mass displacement camp packed with Tamil civilians as he appealed to Sri Lanka's triumphant government to "heal the wounds" after three decades of civil war. As he surveyed the beleaguered and shell-shocked refugees held there and as the army searched for Tamil Tiger fighters among them, he would not have found time to talk to Sopika, aged 10.
Sopika is one of at least 250,000 Tamil civilians being held in Menik Farm in the north of the country. Barbed-wire fences encircle the endless rows of white tents, preventing civilians from getting out and journalists from getting in, as the government continues to prevent the stories of Sopika and thousands like her from being told.
Yesterday, Sri Lanka's health ministry announced that it is investigating three doctors detained by the military accused of giving false information about war zone casualties to the media. The physicians were among the few sources of information on those wounded and killed in the fighting, since most journalists were banned from the area.
But slowly the stories of ordinary Tamils are emerging. And Sopika's harrowing account of her recent ordeal, related via intermediaries, helps explain why the authorities are so keen to restrict the flow of information.
Her story is testimony to the brutality of both the Tamil Tiger fighters and the government during the final stages of a 26-year conflict, during which each side accused the other of acts of unspeakable cruelty. Both, it seems, were telling the truth and it is the Tamil civilians who paid the price.
Sopika was born on the island of Kayts, off the northern tip of Jaffna. Until eight months ago, she and her older brother and younger sister lived with their parents in a village overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Then they left to visit the town of Madhu on the mainland. As the government unleashed its military offensive against the Tigers, their route home was shut off. Desperate to escape the shelling, they were driven ahead of the advancing government forces, further into LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) territory, moving from place to place, dodging air strikes and artillery.
Human rights groups and international officials have accused the government of heavily shelling areas densely populated with civilians in the last weeks of the war. The government has denied using heavy weapons. But by the time the family reached Mullaitivu, Sopika said she found the noise of the jets and artillery overwhelming. Her parents decided they had to make a break for it. It was 2am when they set off with several other families.
"As we were walking, the Tigers started to fire and the young boy walking in front of me got shot," she said. "My face and clothes were splattered with the blood of this boy. He died.
"We turned back because we were afraid of more death," she said.
Sopika said she remembered the moment when a sniper's bullet killed a relative sitting close by.
"I saw the bullets hit her head... half her face fell off," she said.
The family decided to try again to escape. This time they headed for the shore, again setting out at 2am, hoping that the darkness would provide them with cover from the guns of the Tamil Tigers and the government forces.
"We were walking in between the shooting from both sides, and we realised that we could be seen in the moonlight," she said.
In front of her, a 12-year-old boy and his mother were caught in the crossfire, collapsing dead on the ground. "We missed death by a few feet," she said. They turned back again.
The next day, there was no food, so the children went to bed hungry. They awoke again at 2am, and joined another family walking towards the shore.
"We started to walk a long way... no, really we started to run, we were scared we would get caught by the LTTE, we would get beaten," she said.
Dodging the bullets, they pushed on through shrubs and thorn bushes. "There was no road or path, there was a lot of mud and ditches," she said. "Once I fell over a dead body."
Nearing the shore of the lagoon, they started to crawl on their bellies across the sand, terrified of being caught by the Tigers. Entering the water, Sopaki found the waves crashing down on her head. She could not swim; she had never learnt.
"I was terrified because the water was up to my neck," she said. "I could barely stand as the current kept pulling me down. The navy's searchlights kept beaming into the water. I cried out 'Appa Appa' [father, father] when I fell into a trough. I nearly drowned. During the entire journey, we just wanted to run, but we couldn't."
Finally emerging from the water, they could see the army ahead of them. "We were told to lie down. They wanted to search us," she said. The soldiers gave them biscuits, dates and water and put them on a bus. "People were shouting and crying because many of them had lost their relative during the search operation," she said. Sopaki was also crying because her father and brother were missing, but the next day they were reunited.
The family arrived at Menik Farm eight days ago, just as the fighting reached a climax. Two days later, the government announced that the war was over. But their ordeal is not.
Conditions inside the camps are squalid: food and water are in desperately short supply and even the government admits the toilets are inadequate.
Others imprisoned behind the wire have their own tales of hardship and horror. According to private UN documents, at least 7,000 civilians were killed in the final months of fighting in the war. The Red Cross says it evacuated 13,769 sick and wounded people and their relatives from the war zone.
"It is a great relief that the war is over, but peace has come at a very high price, with thousands of civilians killed, including large numbers of children," said James Elder, the Unicef spokesman in Sri Lanka. "There is no end to the gut-wrenching stories of death and destruction that scar these children."
Sopika is one of at least 250,000 Tamil civilians being held in Menik Farm in the north of the country. Barbed-wire fences encircle the endless rows of white tents, preventing civilians from getting out and journalists from getting in, as the government continues to prevent the stories of Sopika and thousands like her from being told.
Yesterday, Sri Lanka's health ministry announced that it is investigating three doctors detained by the military accused of giving false information about war zone casualties to the media. The physicians were among the few sources of information on those wounded and killed in the fighting, since most journalists were banned from the area.
But slowly the stories of ordinary Tamils are emerging. And Sopika's harrowing account of her recent ordeal, related via intermediaries, helps explain why the authorities are so keen to restrict the flow of information.
Her story is testimony to the brutality of both the Tamil Tiger fighters and the government during the final stages of a 26-year conflict, during which each side accused the other of acts of unspeakable cruelty. Both, it seems, were telling the truth and it is the Tamil civilians who paid the price.
Sopika was born on the island of Kayts, off the northern tip of Jaffna. Until eight months ago, she and her older brother and younger sister lived with their parents in a village overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Then they left to visit the town of Madhu on the mainland. As the government unleashed its military offensive against the Tigers, their route home was shut off. Desperate to escape the shelling, they were driven ahead of the advancing government forces, further into LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) territory, moving from place to place, dodging air strikes and artillery.
Human rights groups and international officials have accused the government of heavily shelling areas densely populated with civilians in the last weeks of the war. The government has denied using heavy weapons. But by the time the family reached Mullaitivu, Sopika said she found the noise of the jets and artillery overwhelming. Her parents decided they had to make a break for it. It was 2am when they set off with several other families.
"As we were walking, the Tigers started to fire and the young boy walking in front of me got shot," she said. "My face and clothes were splattered with the blood of this boy. He died.
"We turned back because we were afraid of more death," she said.
Sopika said she remembered the moment when a sniper's bullet killed a relative sitting close by.
"I saw the bullets hit her head... half her face fell off," she said.
The family decided to try again to escape. This time they headed for the shore, again setting out at 2am, hoping that the darkness would provide them with cover from the guns of the Tamil Tigers and the government forces.
"We were walking in between the shooting from both sides, and we realised that we could be seen in the moonlight," she said.
In front of her, a 12-year-old boy and his mother were caught in the crossfire, collapsing dead on the ground. "We missed death by a few feet," she said. They turned back again.
The next day, there was no food, so the children went to bed hungry. They awoke again at 2am, and joined another family walking towards the shore.
"We started to walk a long way... no, really we started to run, we were scared we would get caught by the LTTE, we would get beaten," she said.
Dodging the bullets, they pushed on through shrubs and thorn bushes. "There was no road or path, there was a lot of mud and ditches," she said. "Once I fell over a dead body."
Nearing the shore of the lagoon, they started to crawl on their bellies across the sand, terrified of being caught by the Tigers. Entering the water, Sopaki found the waves crashing down on her head. She could not swim; she had never learnt.
"I was terrified because the water was up to my neck," she said. "I could barely stand as the current kept pulling me down. The navy's searchlights kept beaming into the water. I cried out 'Appa Appa' [father, father] when I fell into a trough. I nearly drowned. During the entire journey, we just wanted to run, but we couldn't."
Finally emerging from the water, they could see the army ahead of them. "We were told to lie down. They wanted to search us," she said. The soldiers gave them biscuits, dates and water and put them on a bus. "People were shouting and crying because many of them had lost their relative during the search operation," she said. Sopaki was also crying because her father and brother were missing, but the next day they were reunited.
The family arrived at Menik Farm eight days ago, just as the fighting reached a climax. Two days later, the government announced that the war was over. But their ordeal is not.
Conditions inside the camps are squalid: food and water are in desperately short supply and even the government admits the toilets are inadequate.
Others imprisoned behind the wire have their own tales of hardship and horror. According to private UN documents, at least 7,000 civilians were killed in the final months of fighting in the war. The Red Cross says it evacuated 13,769 sick and wounded people and their relatives from the war zone.
"It is a great relief that the war is over, but peace has come at a very high price, with thousands of civilians killed, including large numbers of children," said James Elder, the Unicef spokesman in Sri Lanka. "There is no end to the gut-wrenching stories of death and destruction that scar these children."
Iran 'blocks access to Facebook'
Iran's government has blocked access to social networking site Facebook ahead of June's presidential elections, according to Iran's ILNA news agency.
ILNA suggested the move was aimed at stopping supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi from using the site for his campaign.
Facebook, which claims to have 175m users worldwide, expressed its disappointment over the reported ban.
So far there has been no comment from the authorities in Tehran.
'Access not possible'
"Access to the Facebook site was prohibited several days ahead of the presidential elections," ILNA reported
It said that "according to certain Internet surfers, the site was banned because supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi were using Facebook to better disseminate the candidate's positions".
CNN staff in Tehran reported that people attempting to visit the site received a message in Farsi that said: "Access to this site is not possible."
Facebook expressed disappointment that its site was apparently blocked in Iran "at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions".
Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, is seen as one of the leading challengers to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 12 June elections.
His page on Facebook has more than 5,000 supporters
ILNA suggested the move was aimed at stopping supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi from using the site for his campaign.
Facebook, which claims to have 175m users worldwide, expressed its disappointment over the reported ban.
So far there has been no comment from the authorities in Tehran.
'Access not possible'
"Access to the Facebook site was prohibited several days ahead of the presidential elections," ILNA reported
It said that "according to certain Internet surfers, the site was banned because supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi were using Facebook to better disseminate the candidate's positions".
CNN staff in Tehran reported that people attempting to visit the site received a message in Farsi that said: "Access to this site is not possible."
Facebook expressed disappointment that its site was apparently blocked in Iran "at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions".
Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, is seen as one of the leading challengers to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 12 June elections.
His page on Facebook has more than 5,000 supporters
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