Fabricated prison riot remarks attributed to Sri Lanka's justice minister, Catholic Church spokesman spread online
- Published on July 15, 2026 at 12:41
- 3 min read
- By Harshana SILVA, AFP Sri Lanka
After violence erupted at an overcrowded prison in Sri Lanka, posts shared fabricated quotes from the island-nation's justice minister and spokesman of the Catholic Church where they purportedly talked about who should be held liable for Colombo's deadliest prison riot in years. The minister and the priest told AFP they had not made such remarks and the made-up quotes were shared in altered news graphics.
"I am not responsible for the incident at Negombo prison. Government officials are there to control it," reads Sinhala-language quote attributed to Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara in a news graphic shared on Facebook on July 6, 2026.
The purported news graphic bears the logo of the state-run Independent Television Network (ITN News) and includes an image of Nanayakkara sitting with microphones lined up in front of him (archived here and here).
Another supposed ITN news graphic shows the photo and quotes the spokesman of Sri Lanka's Catholic church, Father Cyril Gamini (archived link).
"We have a strong suspicion whether the military intelligence is behind the prison riots - Reverend Father Cyril Gamini," read the quote attributed to the church spokesman.
The posts circulated after clashes between rival gangs at Negombo Prison, north of the capital Colombo, killed at least 21 inmates and 10 guards (archived link).
The deadly violence has intensified scrutiny of Sri Lanka's chronically overcrowded jails, with official figures showing prisons were operating at roughly four times their intended capacity (archived link).
A UN statement issued in Colombo following the deadly riot said that "overcrowding, outdated practices and poor conditions in places of detention have long been recognised as critical challenges across prison systems in Sri Lanka."
Rioting at another prison in December 2020 killed 11 inmates and wounded 117 during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading the government to release hundreds of inmates from overcrowded jails.
A user previously debunked by AFP Fact Check has shared the fabricated graphic in several public groups.
But the quotes are fabricated and the news graphics were altered.
'Fake' quotes
A combination of reverse image and keyword searches led to the original news graphic published on February 25, 2025 on the Facebook account of ITN News (archived link).
The minister spoke about setting up an independent prosecutor's office (archived link).
Local media also used images from the February 2025 press event which were published here and here (archived here and here).
Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told AFP via WhatsApp on July 6 he did not make the remarks circulating in the fabricated graphic.
"This is fake. Well, I spoke about the incident but did not say this," he said.
Nanayakkara told reporters on July 7 that he was deeply saddened over the loss of lives and "must take the responsibility" over what happened (archived here and here).
ITN News also denied attributing such remarks to the minister, broadcasting it on their channels and across their official digital platforms.
"ITN News has not published any such news item attributing that statement to the Minister of Justice, Harshana Nanayakkara," Hasini Ekanayake, head of the ITN News' digital department told AFP via email on July 7 (archived link).
"We can officially inform that this quote has not been broadcast on our television channels nor has it been shared across any of our official digital platforms or social media feeds," she added.
Father Cyril Gamini, on the other hand, denied making such a statement to AFP on July 13, 2026.
"I have never made such a statement at all at any place or to any media or to any social media. This is a totally fake post. You may check with ITN too," he said via WhatsApp.
A keyword search on ITN News' official Facebook showed reports on several press conferences by Father Cyril Gamini where he pushed for continuous investigations into the Easter bombings that killed 279 people in 2019 (archived here and here).
In a post on its official Facebook page, the outlet denied publishing the quote attributed to Father Cyril Gamini (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked misinformation related to bogus quotes.
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
