This image of Sri Lanka’s President has been doctored to include a photo of a man sleeping on a desk

The image was published on December 27, 2019 in this Facebook post. 

It purports to show Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the foreground and a sleeping on a desk in the background. The post has been shared more than 6,400 times. 

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:

The Sinhala language caption translates to English as: “May Buddha’s blessings be with the one who is asleep”. 

The same photo was published on Facebook here, here and here with a similar claim.

This image was shared just days after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa conducted a series of unannounced visits to several government agencies and government-run facilities in a bid to observe the efficiency of public servants.

Here is a government press release published on 27 December, 2019 about two of his recent visits to government agencies. 

Some social media users appeared to believe the image in the misleading posts was genuine. One Sinhala-language comment translates to English as: “This dog should be fired”. 

Another user’s comment translates to English as: “In which office did this happen? Awesome”.

Another user suggested the employee must have taken a nap in the office. The comment translates to English as: "Looks like he had lunch and fell asleep in office". 

But the image has been doctored to include the photo of the man sleeping, which was posted by a Sri Lankan blogger in 2012.

A reverse image search on Google of the doctored image found this blog post by Sri Lankan writer Indi Samajeeva titled “The exceedingly strange YMBA (Photos)” published on July 21, 2012.

YMBA refers to the Young Mens Buddhist Association, a community center in Colombo. 

The photos’s caption reads: “Corner office”. 

Below is a screenshot of the image published in the blog: 

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading posts (L) and the photo published on the blog (R):

Gotabaya’s selfie was published on his Twitter account here on November 25, 2019 with the caption: “A relaxing time with family on the weekend #familymoments”. 

A relaxing time with family on the weekend #Familymoments pic.twitter.com/dX44OiEQFm

— Gotabaya Rajapaksa (@GotabayaR) November 25, 2019

Below is a screenshot of the image: 

In the misleading posts, Gotabaya’s selfie has been cut out, mirrored and superimposed onto the image of the man sleeping at a desk.