Photograph Shown by Wimal Weerawansa Was Fake, Says Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe

15-Oct-2026

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Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Chathuranga Abeysinghe has alleged that former parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa used an artificially generated photograph during a television debate to level political accusations.

Abeysinghe said Weerawansa had been misled by a fabricated image created using artificial intelligence (AI).

The Deputy Minister published a post on his official social media account, accompanied by photographic evidence. The post compared the original photograph with the altered image generated using AI and responded to the allegations made by Weerawansa.

Abeysinghe alleged that Weerawansa had used the manipulated image to make politically motivated accusations against him.

Explaining the original photograph, Abeysinghe said it had been taken during the 2022 Aragalaya protests, when supporters of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna attacked protesters.

According to him, the photograph showed him with a man named Amal, who had helped rescue people who were in danger during the incident.

He added that Amal had been among the few people who courageously confronted the perpetrators of violence before other organisations and members of the public arrived at the protest site. The photograph, he said, had been taken in recognition of Amal’s contribution and sacrifice during the protests.

However, Abeysinghe alleged that the photograph had subsequently been manipulated using AI to portray Amal, who appeared in the original image, as a Buddhist monk.

In his social media post, the Deputy Minister said that Weerawansa’s use of such a fabricated photograph during a television programme to advance his political campaign demonstrated what he described as political ignorance and a susceptibility to AI-generated misinformation.