Do we like them?

Do we like Mahinda Rajapaksa?

Our score: 3 out of 10. A long record of serious allegations and policies that hurt minorities, with little verified good found, and we couldn't open the pages to check more.

Mahinda Rajapaksa is the Sri Lankan strongman who was president from 2005 to 2015 and prime minister several times after that. His name is tied to the end of the civil war in 2009, which many Sinhalese supporters celebrate and many Tamils remember very differently.

On minorities, his government made cremation compulsory for Covid victims in 2020, which cut across Muslim burial rites. In February 2021, as prime minister, he signalled a change in Parliament, and the government backed away a day later. Officials said the policy was health-driven, while critics said it targeted Muslims. Burials were eventually allowed after the outcry.

In May 2022, as the economic crisis bit, his supporters reportedly attacked anti-government protesters, and he resigned as prime minister. A court then barred him and allies from leaving the country over the violence. We didn't find anything on his own words about LGBTQ+ people or the climate, so the harm test here rests on the war and minority record.

The latest chapter is legal. In May 2026 he was questioned by investigators over claims he received money linked to the Airbus deal. He denied the accusations and called them politically motivated. No charges against him turned up in what we found, and a son was reported arrested on graft charges in September.

On the good stuff, we didn't find verified acts of kindness or charity to set against all that, and we couldn't open the pages to dig further. That's a gap in our research, not a clean slate.