British National denied entry to SL over offensive tattoo
March 17, 2013 12:30 am
Sri Lanka has
denied entry to a British tourist at Colombo’s international airport because he
showed a lack of respect for Buddhism, reports say.
An immigration
official told a local newspaper that when the man was asked about a tattoo of
Buddha on his arm he had spoken “very disrespectfully”.
Such views would
have been a “threat to his own safety” in Sri Lanka, he added.
The authorities
are tough on perceived insults to Buddhism - the religion of the island’s
majority ethnic Sinhalese.
Last year, three
French tourists were given suspended prison sentences for taking photographs
that showed them pretending to kiss a statue of Buddha at a temple.
In 2010, the
American R&B star Akon was refused a visa after protests over one of his
music videos, which featured scantily-clad women dancing in front of a statue
of Buddha.
An official at
Bandaranaike International Airport told AFP news agency that the report of
Friday’s incident involving the British tourist was correct.
More than 100,000
British citizens visited Sri Lanka in 2012, accounting for 10% of the total
number of tourists. The UK is also the country’s second-largest trading partner
after India. (BBC)
