A Sri Lankan court has given suspended jail terms to three French tourists for wounding the religious feelings of Buddhists by taking pictures deemed insulting.
Two women and one man were detained in the southern town of Galle after a photographic laboratory alerted police.
The pictures show the travellers posing with Buddha statues and pretending to kiss one of them.
Most of Sri Lanka’s majority ethnic Sinhalese are Theravada Buddhist.
Mistreatment of Buddhist images and artefacts is strictly taboo in the country. The incident is alleged to have taken place at a temple in central Sri Lanka.
On Tuesday a magistrate sentenced the trio to six months in prison with hard labour, suspended for five years – which means they will not actually serve any time in jail. The court also levied a small fine on them.
BBC has the full article
