Sri Lanka to British tourist: Deported for your looks

Buddah
Buddah
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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Sri Lanka wants tourists, but not with a Buddha tattoo. A tourist from the United Kingdom is currently in a Sri Lanka detention jail for her looks.

Sri Lanka wants tourists, but not with a Buddha tattoo. A tourist from the United Kingdom is currently in a Sri Lanka detention jail for her looks. The British consulate is assisting her, but deportation is imminent.

Sri Lankan police said Naomi Michelle Coleman, 37, was arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport in the capital, Colombo, after she arrived to Sri Lanka from India.

A police spokesman said she was arrested for โ€œhurting others’ religious feelingsโ€ after the tattoo of a Buddha seated on a lotus flower was spotted on her right arm.

Buddhism is the religion of the country’s majority ethnic Sinhalese and Buddhist tattoos are seen as culturally insensitive.

After her arrest Coleman appeared before a magistrate who ordered her deportation.

The spokesman said she is currently being held at an immigration detention centre until deportation and said she would be removed โ€œvery soon – it could be tomorrow or the day after tomorrowโ€.

Antony Ratcliffe was reportedly deported for showing a Buddha tattoo on his arm in March last year.

In 2011, Thailand’s Culture Ministry said foreign tourists in Sri Lanka should be barred from getting tattoos of Buddha during their holidays because the practice was culturally insensitive.

And R&B star Akon was refused a Sri Lankan visa in 2010 and had to apologise to Sri Lankan Buddhists after his video for Sexy Chick, which featured a pool party in front of a Buddha statue, caused an offense and national protests.

About the author

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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