Sri Lanka detains and frees two foreign rights activists

November 04, 2013 - Sri Lankan authorities last week freed two international media rights activists after detaining and interrogating them for two days for participating in a meeting on press freedom, saying they violated their tourist visas. Immigration chief Chulananda Perera said Jacqui Park and Jane Worthington 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 the two 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. (Source: AP)