COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka says it has deported three journalists from London-based Channel 4 television.
The move comes a day after they were arrested for alleged false reporting on the island’s civil war.
The head of the government security information centre Lakshaman Hulugalle says today that 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, spoke to The Associated Press from Singapore and denied giving a statement to police or admitting wrongdoing.
He said Saturday that 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, said their original report, broadcast on May 5, contained the first independently filmed video from one of the displacement camps.
