Rathika Sitsabaiesan House Arrest: Foreign Affairs Denies Reports Of Detention

Rathika Sitsabaiesan is the NDP candidate in Scarborough-Rouge River.Stisabaiesan talks at the door with Sandy Rumana, 30, a young mom from Malaysia who just moved into the area. Her 9-month-old son's name is Ryan. (Photo by David Cooper/Toronto Star via Getty Images) | David Cooper via Getty Images

By The Canadian Press-Posted: 12/31/2013 11:01 pm EST  |  Updated: 01/01/2014 

OTTAWA - The Canadian government says there is no arrest warrant out for a New Democrat MP in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan media and a Tamil website were reporting that Rathika Sitsabaiesan (RAH-tih-kah sit-sah-by-EE-sahn) was under some sort of house arrest in the Asian country.

The Columbo Gazette attributed the news to local media reports from the community of Jaffna that Sitsabaiesan had been confined to her hotel.

A Tamil website, TamilNet, posted an account saying that some Sri Lankan officials were stationed at Sitsabaiesan's hotel Tuesday night and were not allowing anyone to visit her.

The reports generated concern in Canadian government circles with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and the junior minister responsible for consular affairs, Lynne Yelich, expressing their concern.

Yelich said Canadian officials in Sri Lanka have contacted officials to determine the MP's status.

"Sri Lankan authorities have clarified with us there is no arrest warrant for @RathikaS. We will continue to follow closely until she is home," Yelich tweeted late Tuesday.