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Sri Lanka arrests Reuters journalists over ‘trespass’
COLOMBO, May 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lankan police arrested a Reuters news agency journalist Thursday while he was covering the aftermath of Easter bombings and remanded him in custody for two weeks on a charge of trespassing, officials said.
New Delhi-based photographer Danish Siddiqui was taken into custody in Katana, 45 kilometres (28 miles) north of Colombo, an official said.
He said they took him before a local magistrate who remanded him in custody until May 15.
“Police acted on a complaint from a school in the area where the journalist was visiting,” the official in Colombo said. “He is accused of trespassing.”
Reuters declined comment.
Sri Lanka has been on edge since the Easter attacks that killed 257 people and wounded nearly 500 others.
The country is under a state of emergency giving greater powers to police and security forces to arrest and detain suspects.
The authorities have also launched nation-wide cordon-and-search operations to track down Islamists responsible for the April 21 suicide bombings targeting three churches and three luxury hotels.
BSS/AFP/MRU/0001hrs