Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Why has Sri Lanka’s police arrested a Youtuber?

Popular Sri Lankan YouTuber and social activist, Sepal Amarasinghe, has been arrested in Boralesgamuwa by the Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) following allegedly defamatory remarks he made towards the Buddhist Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic (‘Dalada Maligawa’) in Kandy.

In his video, the YouTuber reportedly caused offence through his description of the Sacred Tooth Relic as a ‘labba’, which is often used in Sinhala as a euphemism for male genitalia.

 “This descent to savagery must not be allowed. Action must be taken against it immediately,” urged Sri Lankan Justice Minister, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. He further maintained that no one had the right to insult the tooth relic and accused Amarasinghe of stoking religious conflict in the country.

“Our feelings as Buddhists and those of our venerable monks have been hurt by this insult,” he maintained.

Rajapakshe has insisted that Amarasinghe had violated Section 290 of the Penal Code, which prohibits attacks upon religion, and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, which concerns the stoking of religious violence.

Economy Next reports that “there is no evidence of him trying to instigate a conflict, but his harsh and apparently indiscriminate criticism of dogma of all mainstream faiths may be deemed derogatory by those who take offense at his content”.

The arrest of Amarasingh comes as Buddhist monks Sri Siddhartha Sumangala and Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana have further written to Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe urging for legal action.

Sri Lanka has long been criticised for its abuse of the ICCPR to crack down on religious dissidents.  Fiction writer Shakthika Sathkumara was arrested in 2019 under the ICCPR following the publication of a short story that was critical of Buddhism. In May 2020, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemned his arrest maintaining that the Sri Lankan Government had violated its duties in regard to Sathkumara’s pre-trial detention and his right to free speech. Whilst Sathkumara was discharged he faced the prospect of ten years in prison if he was found guilty of violating Section 3(1) of the ICCPR Act and Art 291(B) of the Penal Code.

State Minister of Tourism Diana Gamage urged for legal action and claimed that Amarasinghe and others may be planning to claim asylum abroad.

“We must definitely take action against this. On top of that, action must be taken to prevent these people from leaving the country,” she said.

The latest report from US Commission on International Religious Freedom highlights that in Sri Lanka “religious and ethnic minorities faced violence, harassment, surveillance, and stigmatization from authorities and some segments of the Sinhala Buddhist majority”.

Read more here and here

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.