Naomi Michelle Coleman was arrested at Colombo airport and will be soon deported

Apr 22, 2014 19:15 GMT  ·  By
British woman was taken into custody because she had a Buddha tattoo on her arm
   British woman was taken into custody because she had a Buddha tattoo on her arm

A British tourist is set to be deported from Sri Lanka because she has a Buddha tattoo on her arm, which reportedly “hurts others' religious feelings.”

Naomi Michelle Coleman was taken into custody at the Bandaranaike International Airport in the capital city of Colombo as soon as the authorities spotted the tattoo on her right arm. She is currently being held in an immigration detention center awaiting deportation.

Coleman's arrest took place right after she arrived at the airport on a flight from India on Monday. She appeared before a magistrate who ordered her deportation, and she would be removed from the detention center “very soon - it could be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” according to a police spokesperson.

On the other hand, the Foreign Office didn't have much to say about the incident. The only statement they made was, “We are aware of the detention of a British national in Sri Lanka on April 21. We are providing consular assistance.”

The 37-year-old woman has a Buddha seated on a lotus flower tattooed on her arm, which could cause religious offense, according to local police. Given that Buddhism is the religion of the country's majority ethnic Sinhalese, all Buddhist-themed tattoos are considered culturally insensitive.

According to Daily Mail, this is not the first incident in which a tattoo depicting Buddha has gotten foreigners into trouble in Sri Lanka. In March last year, another British tourist, called Antony Ratcliffe, was denied entry at Colombo’s international airport for the same reason – he had a tattoo of the Buddha on his arm.

In that occasion, immigration officials claimed the tourist had spoken “disrespectfully” when asked about the inking, but Ratcliffe later stated that the tattoo was intended as a tribute to Buddhist teachings which he himself followed.

Moreover, in February 2013, a tourist from Netherlands was detained by police in Kandy, central Sri Lanka, for sporting a large Buddhist tattoo on her back. The woman was reportedly fined and released after saying that she had not intended to cause offense.

Celebrities also got in trouble because of actions considered offensive to Buddhists. American rapper Akon was refused a Sri Lankan visa in 2010 after one of his music videos which featured women dancing in front of a Buddha statue caused offense and protests in the nation.

Travel agencies from UK warn of the sensitivity of the issue and advises visitors not to pose for photos in front of statues of Buddha while visiting Sri Lanka.