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Lankan hunger striker wins damages for burger claims
July 29, 2010 04:45 pm
A Sri Lankan Tamil demonstrator who went on hunger strike outside London’s Houses of Parliament accepted damages Thursday from British newspapers who accused him of eating burgers during the action.
Parameswaran Subramanyam will receive nearly £80,000(95,000 euros, 125,000 dollars) from the Daily Mail and the Sun, his lawyer said.
Subramanyam spent 23 days last year fasting as part of a protest by thousands of British Tamils about the treatment of their people in Sri Lanka. He later spent five days in hospital recovering.
The two newspapers falsely alleged that the 29-year-old had secretly eaten burgers from McDonalds during his hunger strike.
Parameswaran sued them for libel at the High Court in London and the newspapers have now apologised, withdrawn the allegations and agreed to pay damages totalling nearly £80,000.
“The claimant did not consume any food at all throughout his hunger strike,” judge David Eady said in his ruling.
“The articles strike at the heart of the claimant’s integrity, undermining the single achievement for which he became known and respected.”
Eady said Parameswaran had been “ostracised” by Tamils after the untrue stories were published because they believed he had “betrayed” them and “undermined the Tamil struggle globally”.
Parameswaran said he had thought about committing suicide after the newspapers published their stories because of the criticism he faced from other Tamils.
AFP
Viewer Comments
July 29, 2010 04:53 pm
Ohh It was not another Wimal Weerawansa saga after all or the Brits got it wrong?????
Les Miserables
July 29, 2010 04:53 pm
I am sure he will donate this money to the Sri Lankan govt to be used for the well being of the IDPs (Tamils). He is a man who has interest of the Tamils in Sri Lanka uppermost in his heart.
Ellepola
July 29, 2010 05:21 pm
Dear Westerns This is How Last 30YEARS This UK LTTE Burggers Cheat innocent ENGLISH People Money and Credit card During the Blady War.Now UK Government Time To Think Seriously about This UK LTTE Bugers if not UK Government will be Bankrupt from this LTTE Bugers.please send them to TAMIL NADU and ask them to live with the Vaiko & Seeman.
anurudhe2
July 29, 2010 05:22 pm
According to sources at the time of this "so called hunger strike" it´s said that he had been eating behind the scene at night. Unfortunatly they didn´t have any way to prove it as the place was guarded by tiger terrorist. Sorry about the paper having to spent 80000 pounds on a terroriost now they will use that money to propagate terrorism
Chamalka
July 29, 2010 05:25 pm
Good opportunity for Wimal if he did it right but unluckily as per Sri Lanka media norms lies are acceptable.
Atula
July 29, 2010 05:30 pm
this is a joke NOTHING ELS THE MONE HE RECIVED WILL GO TO LTTE TERRORIST WHAT HAS DONE FASTING FOR THREE WEEKS NOTHING HAPPEND WERE HE ABLE TO LEBARATE THOSE TAMILS FRM THE CRUEL TREATMENT OF LTTE TERRORIST NO IT IS OUR BRAVE SECURITEY FORCES OF SRILANKA DELEVERED THEM LOOKS LIKE THIS IS A ANOTHER WAY OF FUNDING LTTE IN TNTL LEVEL ONLE FOOS WILL BY THESE STORYS RUWAN
sandhuruwan
July 29, 2010 06:09 pm
Normally almost all hunger strikers eat secretly. Very few will keep the promise. I do not know how this guy did it, only he and his close mates know the truth. Anyway, he got lot of money that he can give it to LTTE or use to buy weapons now.
jaya
July 29, 2010 06:25 pm
better you sucide, because your protest is baseless. you tried to misguide whole world.
rajeewa
July 29, 2010 07:10 pm
Pls send this massage to wimal
srilankan
July 29, 2010 08:47 pm
Wimal schould do the same
duminda
July 29, 2010 08:50 pm
i think this one is a relative of weerawansa.
aww
July 29, 2010 10:18 pm
ha ha ha this guy fasted for 23 days and survived, wihuluwansa fasted for 3 days and looked as if he came back from the dead!!! unfortunately both of them survived...
wihuluwansa
July 29, 2010 10:56 pm
OH MY GOD!!! The real winner of LTTE! 90K euros! Wow! He doesn´t need to do a job again!!!
Nilupul
July 29, 2010 11:05 pm
WIMAL sir, you have to think about real ´hunger strike and care on their nation and people.´ Its a real commitment and sacrification like Thileepan did in 1987
ZAHEER
July 29, 2010 11:17 pm
Lucky guy life-time McDonald service is assured. Can Weerawansa also claim something for so many things said about him?
SHM
July 29, 2010 11:30 pm
Bugger! Now he can eat BigMacs for the rest of his life !!!
Wickrama
July 29, 2010 11:32 pm
British cops officially never disclosed the facts due to political sensivity and therefore police officers who videoed the whole drama couldn´t give or produce evidence because of police department regulations, otherwise there´s no chance for this man. Very sure the Londoners are still angry about wasting 7 million of their money on useless things and that´s what matters to them and the two newspapers.
rajiv
July 29, 2010 11:40 pm
Ham burgers in UK = Lemon puff in SL ?
Try
July 30, 2010 12:06 am
Wimale should try this with Munchee Lemon puff
TSN
July 30, 2010 12:28 am
Oh, what a lucky guy! It´s the true`Britishness´ in our country this is not possible!!!
Mahendra
July 30, 2010 06:41 am
He gained absolutely NOTHING from us Sri Lankans through his fast, because without giving a damn about what he was doing at the time we annihilated the LTTE anyway! However, he became £80,000 richer than he was because of the stupidity of them Brits ha ha ha.....this is hilarious indeed!!! It is no wonder why all of them want to flock to Britain by the horde when they know it all too well that this is a place where they don´t having to actually do any work to make a living but can do even better by suing the native retards ha ha ha. So in actuality, it was not us but it was the stupid Brits that got caught to his farce and had to pay up ha ha ha!!!!
Charitha
July 30, 2010 07:18 am
SRI LANKANS HARDLY ACCEPT FACTS AND TRY TO BLAME SOMEONE. THESE IDOITS WILL NEVER SUCCEED IN LIFE. BUGGERS THINK AND ACT HUMANLY. YOU DONKEYS MUST UNDERSTAND ´LTTE WAS A CREATION OF SINHALA POLITICIANS AND NOT CIVILAINS.
L.Samaraweera
July 30, 2010 09:02 am
Why don´t we SUE british media like BBC and CH4 for tarnishing Sri Lanka´s image???
wadda
July 30, 2010 10:16 am
LOL @anurudhe2 comments. A perfect pathetic white worshiper.
Raju
July 30, 2010 10:37 am
Show that what you did was true to your heart by building a couple houses for under privileged Tamils in War torn areas in SL, with the moda sudda´s money you got thro your deed. We also have one who feels a lot for our motherland, a guy called Wimal, unfortunately he cant do the same and get any money as he had a box of buiscuits on a chair behind the screen where he ´fasted´(as was seen in a e-mail which didnt look like montaged in computers)and couldn´t refuse a glass of water and hence he had a reason not to die and stop what he did and now he says he´s proud to have drunk a glass of water..
saambrani
July 30, 2010 10:52 am
L.Samaraweera looks like you are talking about your self in here once again! Talking as usual stupidly assuming that your audience too is as retarded as you are. Originally, LTTE was an Indian creation. India (RAW) created the LTTE to destabilize Sri Lanka and curb the growth of the Sri Lankan economy so that Sri Lankans will be left with no other choice but to come and beg at India´s feet for just about every damn thing. Later on however, the LTTE was used as their proxy also by the west to create a situation where they can come and plant themselves in this strategically located island at the gate way to the new booming region on the planet, Asia. LTTE was NOT fighting for the Tamils L.Samaraweera, if they were they wouldn´t have murdered so many of their own kind, especially those very well educated and very respectable Tamil people merely because Prabakaran considered their continued existence would have threatened his leadership in the future. The truth is LTTE hierarchy was making a lot of money by waging a proxy war here in Sri Lanka on behalf of the west and India by using the innocent Tamils as cannon fodder, they wanted the continued support of the Sri Lankan Tamils for their own survival but nothing else, this is why they created an environment where there will always be friction between the Sinhalese and the Tamils in Sri Lanka, they succeeded in creating such an environment with the help of the western and Indian governments, western media and the western INGOs.
Charitha
July 30, 2010 11:00 am
Wimal can learn something from this guy.
suba
July 30, 2010 11:01 am
Oh you stupid Brits! You let these con artists fool you!!!!
Sir Oswald Mosley
July 30, 2010 11:54 am
yako samaraweera drohiya, umba oya katha karanne katinda nethinam adho mukayen da? Ehemath nethinam umba NGO karayangen gilapu dolar wamaranawada? Umbata lajjawak nethida sinhalayek welath koheda yana hora upawasa karapu para kotiyekuta kade yanna? Yako koti sanwidanaya bihi une demala jathi wadeen nisa misak sinhala minissu nisa newei. Un thamai 50 ta 50 wage asadarana illeem karanna gaththe. Anika umba wage para kotiyek enna ona nehe apita ´manussakama´ ugannanna. Umbe oya maha loku koti rela thamai me rate mannussa kamata lokuma haaniya kale. Ape weerodhara hamudawa jeewitha parithyagayen e amanussa rela iwarayak karala damma. Eka thamai manussa kamata karapu lokuma sevaya. Umbata dan eka dara ganna beriwa methana awith byla kiyawanawa. Nikan gon kama pennanne nethiwa gihin katai adho mukayai wahagena ganda gassanne nethiwa budiya ganin!
Darth Vader
July 30, 2010 01:45 pm
Which ever the race, what he has done is clever. Good One.
kapila
July 30, 2010 02:16 pm
Its shame to hear from our own Sri lankans are criticizing Wimal Weerawansa . He never had any thing to eat or drink nearly 53 hrs . It was witnessed by the media & the people who was thir from the beginning . But oue jokers are just spreading false stories & trying to Tarnish his name > if you really think our stupid Sinhalese are indirectly helping the western Mafia . You can see all the comments from stupid Sinhalese who against for W.W. . Before you criticize W.W , can you talk to your heart & see whether you have done some thing like this against for the Western Mafia & the Bloody NGO´s . You guys are real TRAITORS for the Country. always try to critisize own Sinhalese > have you ever seen any Tamils or Muslims are criticizing their own people like this ? ( Unless you come with a different name as a Tamil or Muslim . With this I can imagine how the Traitors are against for W.W.
dhammi ( Australia )
July 30, 2010 02:40 pm
@Samaraweeram thadi kotiya,Why you writing under a sinhal name?LTTE was created to safegurad the undue/unfair priviledges given to tamils by the british empire (to divide and rule the country).Sri Lanka is a developing country and unemployment affects all communities and their´s no hard and fast rule saying that the unemployment and problems of the tamils should be given priority and solved 100% before Sinhalese or Muslims or that we should stick to the british empires policy.13% of the population can´t demand 30% or 1/3 of the country and resources.
wickrama
July 30, 2010 03:13 pm
how SAD to pay for these ppl , he may be jobless homeless i have no idea no 80000 .. hee hee heee not bad ha ? if he soooooooooooo sad for his ppl pls donate that lum some for building the area for your ppl . Lets see how much he is going to put in i doubt NOT A PENNY .. looool ... funny thing is these ppl live in luxury in WEST and talk about their right , at least i respect those who fought and die in the combat .ppl like u its really shame not only for ppl for the country as well because you call your self A SRI LANKAN ! WHY NOT INDIAN I WONDER at least you all came from there ! .........
dinesh
July 30, 2010 05:41 pm
When the news came that he eaten burger , All the news says Tamil was caught eating burger, when he won the case , every one published Lankan won the case, is this Netural ? Why Tamils take all the blame ?
Daran54
July 30, 2010 06:37 pm
This man got £80,000 because he was in UK and the stupid English knows nothing about the terrorists but claim as freedom fighters if Wimal has done the same thing in UK he would have got the same thing. The difference is English are stupid and Sri Lankans are clever not to pay for something stupid. Fasting does not bring anything good than getting attention.
Janaka Jayawardena
July 30, 2010 09:16 pm
Brits are taken on a ride by the LTTE again. Serves them right for supporting the LTTE against the Sri Lankan Forces. Next question is - will the money be used to re-develop the bloody, blood thirsty LTTE OR Use it to upgrade the living style of the tamils liberated by the brave SL forces. The answer is so clear. It will be used to support the LTTE goons. These fellows were never interested in providing for the poor tamils, only the sinhalese helped the tamils. Its a known fact. The crocodile tears of the Tamil Protestors all over the world was for the LTTE and not for the tamils who were suffering because of the LTTE.
Desha Premi
July 31, 2010 01:50 am
These British Tabloids lost due to their practice of using sensational (some times misleading) words for news headlines. They surely may have made more money using this idiot’s gimmick (and accusation) as a front page story than they really paid him as damages!! Never the less, there’s no doubt this Tamil fellow had ‘nutritious’ drinks with all ‘vital supplements’ which makes him a fake and a coward anyway! Even babies live for months only on just drinking liquids!!
Rascal
July 31, 2010 02:06 am
Darth Vader: I can´t understand what you are trying say here. Can you come out in English?
L. Samaraweera
July 31, 2010 02:47 am
This is a surprisingly a joke. This Tamils will so anything for a penny. In this case the stupid English are to be disgraced for they could not have done a thing to save the situation but to bend over backwards.
Christopher Kay
July 31, 2010 07:19 am
Daran54, on which basis you are telling this useless guy is a ´Srilankan´? One will not become a srilankan just because his/her parents are from Srilanka. A real Srilankan always love the country. This guy who were ´fasting´ making allegations against Srilanka is a ´Srilankan´? People who betray the country are NOT Srilankans despite the racial group they belong to.
kamal
July 31, 2010 12:52 pm
yako samaraweera modaya umbata sinhala kiyawa gannath berida sinhalayek welath? Ane aththatama umbata lajjawak nethida moda kalu sudda? Umbata beri nam danna kenekuta kiyala therum kara ganin mee haraka!
Darth Vader
July 31, 2010 03:06 pm
Samaraweera idiot, what are you telling? Being a ´sinhaleese´ and can´t understand sinhala!? Very funny! Whom are you trying to fool? Do you think all the readers here are brain atrophied like you? As Mr. Wickrama said you are just a fake sinhaleese. You must be an LTTE dog or a full time western boot licker!
Ranawaka
July 31, 2010 03:40 pm
Darth Vader kindly write in Tamil the mother tongue and the language Samaraweera understands.
Rohitha
