Renowned Reuters photo journalist Danish Siddiqui was arrested in Sri Lanka on Thursday for allegedly trespassing into a college in Negombo. Delhi-based Siddiqui, a Pulitzer winning photojournalist, was attempting to enter the Maris Stella College in Negombo when he was detained.
Siddique wanted to enquire about a student who was a victim of the bombing at the St. Sebastian's in Katuwapitiya on Easter Sunday. Scroll reports that the victim's parents alerted the police, saying Siddique had tried to forcibly enter the school's premises to speak to the authorities.
Siddique was arrested in Katana, 45 kilometres from Colombo, and has been remanded to custody until May 15 by a local magistrate.
Siddique shot to fame in 2018 for his team's coverage of the violence faced by the Rohingya community in Myanmar.
While an official spoke about the arrest, Reuters has declined to comment on the development. Speakign to Agence France-Presse, the official said: "Police acted on a complaint from a school in the area where the journalist was visiting." He added, "He is accused of trespassing."
The situation in Sri Lanka has been volatile since April 21 when churches and high-end hotels in the country were bombed by extremist jihadist groups with the help from the ISIS operatives. The bombings killed over 250 people and injured over 500.
On April 26, Friday, there was a major crackdown on an ISIS safe house in the eastern part of Sri Lanka. As many as 16 people were killed in the encounter. The three suicide bombers holed up in the building blew themselves up, killing six children and three women among others.
