Asian correspondent Nick Paton Walsh deported after report on deaths, starvation and sexual abuse at refugee camp
Sri Lanka deported three journalists from Channel 4 television on Sunday, a day after they were arrested for alleged false reporting on the civil war.
Lakshman Hulugalle, the head of the government security information centre, said the journalists admitted they had "done something wrong" and would not be allowed to come back to Sri Lanka.
Nick Paton Walsh, the channel’s Asian correspondent, denied giving a statement to police or admitting wrongdoing.
"This is complete rubbish," he told AP after arriving in Singapore.
Walsh said he was detained with producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper by police in the eastern town of Trincomalee and asked to give a statement, but he refused.
Later, a man in plain clothes spoke to him and took down notes, saying those were for his future reference, he said.
Walsh said he believed the arrests were connected to his recent report on the conditions of the war refugees and alleged sexual abuse in camps for those who fled the northern warzone.
ITN News, which produces Channel 4 News, said the report, broadcast on 5 May, contained the first independently filmed video from one of the displacement camps. It claimed dead bodies were left where they fell, there were shortages of food and water and instances of sexual abuse – all claims that the Sri Lankan government has denied.
In recent weeks, the government and aid groups have been struggling to cope with more than 120,000 civilians who fled the warzone, overwhelming displacement camps.
The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalisation at the hands of governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.
Sri Lankan troops have won a series of battles and appear to be on the verge of crushing the decades-old insurgency but media rights groups have said the government’s success has been accompanied by a ruthless campaign against dissenting media.
According to Amnesty International, at least 14 local journalists and Sri Lankans working for media organisations 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.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow TNN on Facebook and Twitter )