Sri Lanka police: 3 UK journalists arrested, accused of tarnishing image of security forces

Sri Lanka arrests 3 UK television journalists

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan police arrested three journalists for London-based Channel 4 television news Saturday on charges of tarnishing the image of government security forces, authorities said.

Police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekera said the trio were arrested in the eastern city of Trincomalee on Saturday. He said investigations are continuing.

Nick Paton-Walsh, the channel’s Asian correspondent, spoke to the Associated Press by telephone shortly after the arrest, saying that he was being driven to the capital, Colombo, along with producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper.

The Channel 4 had been covering fierce fighting between government forces and the separatist Tamil Tigers.

Walsh said he believed the arrests were connected to his recent report on conditions for war refugees and alleged sexual abuse in camps for those who fled the northern war zone.

ITN News, which produces Channel 4, confirmed that its reporting team has been ordered to leave the country by the Sri Lankan Defense Minister, “after reporting allegations of abuse and ill-treatment of Tamils held in internment camps.”

“Their original report, broadcast on Channel 4 News on 5th May, contained the first independently filmed video from one of the internment camps in the city of Vavuniya in the north of Sri Lanka,” ITN said in a statement. “The report contained claims that dead bodies were left where they fell, shortages of food and water, and sexual abuse.”

ITN said it would seek an explanation from the Sri Lankan government for the decision to expel the journalists.

The government has denied the Channel 4 report.

In recent weeks, the government and aid groups have been struggling to cope with more than 120,000 civilians who fled the war zone, overwhelming displacement camps.

Media rights group have accused the government of carrying out a ruthless campaign against the media and dissidents amid the military’s recent successes against rebels.

Government troops have ousted the Tamil Tigers — who once ran a de facto state in the north and east — from their northern strongholds in recent months, cornering them into a sliver of land just 2.4 miles (4 kilometers) long on the northeastern coast.

Journalists are still largely banned from the northern war zone, making it difficult for independent journalists to verify either government or rebel reports of the conflict. The government argues the area is too dangerous for noncombatants.

The government also has come under heavy criticism for a spate of attacks on and arrests of journalists viewed as critical of the offensive against the rebels. The government denies any hand in the suppression of journalists.

According to Amnesty International, at least 14 journalists and Sri Lankans working for media organizations have been killed since the beginning of 2006. Others have been detained, tortured or have disappeared. Amnesty says 20 more have fled the country because of death threats.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalization at the hands of governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.