The controversy involving the deportation of a British tourist who sported a ‘Buddha-tattoo’ on her rights arm has resulted in a string of negative media reports in the international media about Sri Lanka’s tourism and law enforcement mechanism.

Naomi Coelman, a mental health nurse from Coventry in England has told international media that she underwent a hellish experience after she was arrested for having a Buddha-tattoo on her right arm.

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"I am a practising Buddhist and meditate. That is why I have the tattoo - not out of disrespect for Buddhism,” she has said. The tattoo is of a meditating Buddha seated on a pink lotus flower on the upper part of her right arm.

She said she was never told what charges were brought against her, but was held for six hours and harassed by police for bribes. The British tourist, according to media reports, had paid Rs. 5,000 ($US38) for a lawyer who did not help her.

Coleman says the tattoo has never created problems when she visited the country twice before, or even in other Buddhist countries like Thailand and Cambodia.

All attempts to contact Sri Lanka’s Tourism authorities in this regard ended up in being futile. However, a spokesman from the Economic Development Ministry which overlooks Sri Lanka’s tourism said foreigners visiting the country should pay attention to its “religious sensitivities.”

On  a previous occasion, Sri Lankan authorities  barred another British tourist from entering the island in March last year for showing "disrespect" to Buddhism by having a Buddha tattooed on his arm.

In August 2012, three French tourists were sentenced to six months in jail, which was suspended for five years, for kissing a Buddha statue in what the authorities considered a sign of disrespect.