Noam Chomsky appeals against to the Death sentence

August 19, 2011

By Kajan

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, computer scientist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) of in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT on this week requested India to make efforts for cancelling the death sentence awarded to three to innocent Tamils in the Rajiv Gandhi case.

President Prathibha Patil had recently rejected the clemency petitions of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan. They were three of the four persons awarded death penalty with the sentence of another convict Nalini being commuted to life.

Chomsky, said in humanitarian ground, the Indian Central government can cancel the death sentence of the three. “Even after the Indian president rejected the clemency petitions, the Centre can still cancel the death sentence, he added.

Chomsky has been active in left-wing politics and he opposed the Vietnam War and he supports the Tamils right to self determination in Tamil Eelam, their homeland in the North and East of Sri Lanka. In a February 2009 interview, he said of the Tamil Eelam struggle: “Parts of Europe, for example, are moving towards more federal arrangements.

In Spain, for example, Catalonia by now has a high degree of autonomy within the Spanish state. The Basque Country also has a high degree of autonomy. In England, Wales and Scotland in the United Kingdom are moving towards a form of autonomy and self-determination and I think there are similar developments throughout Europe. Though they’re mixed with a lot of pros and cons, but by and large I think it is a generally healthy development. I mean, the people have different interests, different cultural backgrounds, different concerns, and there should be special arrangements to allow them to pursue their special interests and concerns in harmony with others.”

In a September 2009 submitted Sri Lankan Crisis Statement, Chomsky was one of several signatories calling for full access to internment camps holding Tamils, the respect of international law concerning prisoners of war and media freedom, the condemnation of discrimination against Tamils by the state since independence from Britain, and to urge the international community to support and facilitate a political solution that addresses the self-determination aspirations of Tamils and protection of the human rights of all Sri Lankans.

A major offensive against the Tamils in the Vanni region of their homeland in 2009 resulted in the deaths of at least 20,000 Tamil civilians in 5 months, amid widespread concerns war crimes were committed against the Tamil population.[38] At a United Nations forum on R2P, the Responsibility to Protect doctrine established by the UN in 2005, Chomsky said:

“What happened in Sri Lanka was a major Rwanda-like atrocity, in a different scale, where the West didn’t care. There was plenty of early warning. This [conflict] has been going on for years and decades. Plenty of things could have been done [to prevent it]. But there was not enough interest.”

Chomsky was responding to a question that referred to Jan Egeland, former head of the UN’s Humanitarian Affairs’ earlier statement that R2P was a failure in Sri Lanka.