Did the Minister of Justice Really Make a Defamatory Gesture in Parliament?

A discussion emerged in Parliament recently after claims that Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara had made an inappropriate gesture towards opposition MPs. An image, said to show the alleged gesture, was also widely circulated on social media. Below is the fact-check we conducted regarding this image.

Social Media Posts :

A post was shared on social media claiming that the Minister had made an inappropriate gesture in Parliament by showing his middle finger and sticking out his tongue.

Facebook |Archived Link

Similar posts continued to circulate on social media.

Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook Facebook

These posts were circulated even on X in this manner.

We carried out a fact check on this social media post .

Fact Check :

During the parliamentary session held on March 20, 2026, MP Ajith P. Perera raised a question to Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara. The Minister requested two weeks to respond to the question. This was challenged by MP Ajith P. Perera, and a tense situation briefly arose in Parliament.

Shortly after, MP Ajith P. Perera told the Speaker that the Minister had made an obscene gesture. However, when reviewing the full video of the session, no clear visual of such a gesture can be seen.

MP Ajith P. Perera questioned Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara in Parliament about the decentralisation of the powers of the Attorney General’s Department and the progress on establishing regional Attorney General offices. He stated that the Minister avoided providing an answer and, as he was explaining this to the Speaker, claimed that the Minister made an insulting gesture toward him. MP Perera shared a video from Parliament showing this incident.

We reviewed the parliamentary live broadcast and reports from mainstream media regarding this incident. However, none of these reports showed any visual evidence of the Minister making such a gesture. Therefore, we were unable to independently verify whether such a gesture was made or not.

Due to the lack of visual evidence, we focused on verifying the image that was being circulated on social media as proof of the alleged gesture.

AI-Generated Image

The image circulating on social media was analysed using several AI detection tools. The results showed that the image was generated using artificial intelligence.

Further analysis confirmed that the image was created using Google’s AI tools and contains an invisible SynthID digital watermark.

Media Secretary – The Minister of Justice and National Integration

When contacted, the Minister’s Media Secretary stated that the Minister had not made such a gesture and confirmed that the image is fake. He also mentioned that an official video from Parliament has been requested, and further clarification will be provided once it is received.

Join us to learn about our fact checking investigations.

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google News | TikTok

Conclusion :

Our investigation shows that the image circulating as evidence of the Minister making an inappropriate gesture is AI-generated. As there is no clear evidence, it cannot be independently confirmed whether such a gesture was made. This article will be updated once official confirmation and further evidence become available.