COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan officials say they will deport two international media rights activists for participating in a meeting on press freedom while visiting the country on tourist visas.
Immigration chief Chulananda Perera said the activists from the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists were found attending the meeting in Colombo on Wednesday.
Sunil Jayasekara, convener of the local group Free Media Movement, said Australians Jacqueline Park and Jane Worthington were vacationing and joined the meeting after an informal invitation.
He said officials raided the meeting, took the activists to their hotel and left with their passports after questioning them.
Attacks on media offices and journalists, particularly those that criticize the government, have become increasingly common in Sri Lanka. More than a dozen journalists have fled the country over the last four years.