Father of Sri Lankan Easter attackers did not run for parliament in 2024: government documents

Government documents have shown that, contrary to claims circulating on social media, the father of two suicide bombers who were involved in the horrific Easter attacks in Sri Lanka in 2019 was not a candidate for any position in the last general elections in the island nation. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s JVP party told AFP that entrepreneur Mohamed Ibrahim was on the party’s candidate list in 2015, but the party had no links with him since the attacks.

“Give him a voice” read in Sinhala Post on Facebook accessed October 17, 2024

It contained a photo of what appeared to be a campaign poster for wealthy spice trader Mohamed Ibrahim, father of two suicide bombers in Easter attacks 2019 considered the worst ever attack against civilians in the island nation (archive link).

Police then arrested Ibrahim after initiating an investigation into the gruesome bombings that killed 279 people. Was granted bail according to local newspaper The Morning (archive link).

The photos in the posts featured the logo of the country’s ruling National People’s Power (NPP) coalition, led by President Dissanayake and mainly composed of his JVP party.

Some of the text in the photo said that Ibrahim was running for a seat in the parliament of the capital Colombo.

Screenshot of fake Facebook post, taken on November 20, 2024

Similar posts were also shared Here, Here AND Here.

They spread after Dissanayake – who was brought to power in September on a promise to crack down on graft and recover stolen wealth in a bankrupt island nation still struggling with a financial crisis that has imposed widespread hardship – dissolved parliament and scheduled a convening early elections on November 14 (archive link).

His decision to immediately call elections almost 10 months ahead of schedule and secure parliamentary support for his program was ineffective confirmedwith the NPP coalition winning 159 seats in the 225-seat assembly (archive link).

However, the claim that Ibrahim is among the candidates of Dissanayake’s party is false.

Early elections

AFP reviewed the official list of candidates issued by the Sri Lankan Election Commission on October 11 ahead of the early elections and found no mention of Ibrahim (archive link).

His name also does not appear on the committee’s list list of election winners or v List of parliamentary candidates prepared by the NPP (archived links Here AND Here).

Upul Ranjan, spokesman for both the JVP and the NPP coalition, also denied the posts circulating online.

“His name was included in the JVP national list in 2015 because he supported the party. However, after the Easter Sunday attacks, we have no connection or affiliation with him,” Ranjan told AFP on October 29.

A reverse image search revealed that the photo of Ibrahim in the fake posts was a cropped version photo posted on the official Facebook page of former Minister of State for International Trade Sujeewa Senasinghe on August 9, 2016 (archive link).

Below is a screenshot comparing the image in the fake posts (left) and Ibrahim in the 2016 photo (right):

The Dissanayake government announced new probe on the October 8 Easter bombings, claiming that previous investigations had failed to identify other perpetrators of the country’s worst-ever attack on civilians (archive link).

In the aftermath, officials blamed a local jihadist group for suicide bombings on three churches and three hotels, but Sri Lanka’s top intelligence official was also accused of organizing the attack.