British media's racist lens on drug arrest in Sri Lanka

IN recent days, several major UK media outlets have chosen to focus not on the serious crime committed by a British national arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport, but rather on her discomfort with Sri Lankan prison conditions.

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The woman, reportedly attempting to smuggle over a million dollars' worth of cannabis, now faces charges under Sri Lanka's drug trafficking laws. Yet, British headlines have instead centred on her claims of being held in a "hellhole" and complaints that she has not eaten for two days because the food is "too spicy."

Let us be clear: Sri Lanka is not obliged to accommodate alleged drug traffickers with five-star comforts or tailor our national cuisine to foreign palates. The fact that this individual was not arrested in a country like Singapore—where such offences often carry the death penalty—should not be lost in the conversation. What is more disturbing than the woman's lack of regard for the laws of a sovereign country is the manner in which the British press has chosen to report this case.