Years-old photos misrepresented as Sri Lanka opposition's show of support for prime minister
- Published on January 30, 2026 at 07:24
- 2 min read
- By Harshana SILVA, AFP Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's prime minister faced criticism in January 2026 over a link to a gay chat website included in a new national school syllabus, but photos circulating in social media posts that claimed they showed lawmakers standing in solidarity with her are unrelated to the scandal. The pictures are from November 2021, and the lawmakers were actually posing for pictures to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
"We stand for Harini; stop the violence and harassment against women," reads a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared on January 17.
It features 10 photographs showing current and former opposition lawmakers wearing masks with orange ribbons around their upper arms, with messages plastered on their clothes.
The false claim circulated after Sri Lanka's government was embroiled in a scandal over the publication of a link to the subscription-based gay site buddy.net in a new national syllabus, with a suggestion that pre-teens should use it to improve their English (archived link).
The leftist ruling party was due to enact sweeping changes to the current school testing system in a bid to ease exam pressure and improve digital literacy. A government spokesperson said on January 13 it will delay the reforms until 2027.
Teachers' unions have criticised the government over the scandal, while the opposition has said it will bring a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, who is also the education minister (archived link).
The Education Ministry has lodged a formal complaint with police and launched an internal inquiry to establish how the blunder took place, while ministry secretary Nalaka Kaluwewe said the government suspects sabotage (archived link).
"We are in the process of implementing educational reforms, and this could be an attempt to stall them," he told AFP.
Homosexual activity is illegal in Sri Lanka, and the penalty for same-sex relations is up to 10 years in prison -- although there have been very few prosecutions in recent years.
Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Facebook. Some users appear to believe the claim is genuine and criticised the opposition camp led by Sajith Premadasa for the lawmakers' perceived support for the prime minister (archived link).
"Sajith's stupid gang. There is no difference between people in villages who support Sajith and this bunch. They started defaming and now act as if they didn't," one user wrote.
"They have gone crazy without power. People who voted for these stupid fellows should be ashamed for sending these lunatics to parliament," reads another comment.
But the photos in the post are old and not related to the scandal.
Old photos
A combination of keyword and reverse image searches traced the photos to an article published by local news site News First on November 25, 2021 (archived link).
"Opposition MPs wear orange ribbons condemning violence against women," the report's headline reads.
The article says opposition lawmakers at that time wore orange ribbons on their arms to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
News First also published some of the photos misused in the false post on its official Facebook page on the same day (archived link).
Sri Lanka's opposition party shared similar pictures on the day, while Rohini Kumari Wijerathna -- one of the lawmakers in the pictures -- told AFP via WhatsApp on January 29 that they were not taken recently (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked misinformation targeting Sri Lanka's opposition.
Copyright © AFP 2017-2026. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
