Is there a pill to sterilize people?
Maybe a gel that goes into women's underwear?
Have you ever heard of a doctor who secretly sterilizes women while performing C-sections?
These are all conspiracy theories being spread among Buddhists who are staunch opponents of Muslims in Sri Lanka.
Rumors are rife that the country's Muslim minority is secretly trying to increase its share of the population by sterilizing the women of the majority Buddhist community.
A doctor from the northwestern city of Kurunegala was the target of a rather unbelievable accusation.
"I am a Muslim and I was accused of secretly sterilizing 4.000 Buddhist women," surgeon Muhammad Shafi told the BBC.
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Dr. Shafi was falsely accused of using an instrument to press the fallopian tubes of Buddhist patients during caesarean sections, thus making it impossible for them to have more children.
He was arrested on May 24, 2019 and charged under the Terrorism Act.
"They put me in a cell with criminals.
"I asked myself why are they doing this to me? I had to survive for the sake of my wife and children," said Dr. Shafi.
The father of three spent 60 days behind bars.
In July 2019, the court granted bail, but the doctor was placed on compulsory leave due to the investigation against him.
Four years after his arrest, Muhammad Shafi was reinstated in May 2023 by the decision of the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka due to lack of evidence.
Bombs on Easter
Of the approximately 22 million population in Sri Lanka, Buddhists make up about 70 percent and Muslims about 10 percent.
There are also Hindus (12 percent) and Christians (seven percent).
Before he was charged, Dr. Shafi treated patients of all religious communities.
But on April 21, 2019, Easter, a series of bombings were carried out on churches and hotels, killing more than 250 people.
These atrocities changed Shafi's life forever.
The attacks, carried out by a group of self-radicalized extremists linked to the Islamic State group, were the deadliest since the civil war against the Tamil Tigers ended in 2009.
The bombings fueled a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka.
In retaliation, mosques, houses and shops owned by Muslims were set on fire, and one Muslim was dismembered by the mob.
False accusations
One of the country's leading dailies, Divaina, published a front-page article on May 23, 2019, just one month after the bombings, claiming that he was "a doctor who supports Thawheed Jamath, an Islamic organization based in India , sterilized 4.000 Sinhalese Buddhist women.
The details that have been revealed are supported by evidence.
"An extensive investigation is being conducted to arrest the doctor".
The National Thawheed Jamath, an Islamist militant group in Sri Lanka was one of two local Islamic groups blamed for the Easter bombings.
The daily did not cite any source to confirm the claims or that Dr Shafi was the perpetrator, but allegations of sterilization of Buddhist women pointing to Dr Shafi appeared on Facebook along with his photo and address.
"It was the first time I was publicly associated with those claims," he told the BBC.
Dr. Shafi, who is a leading expert in his department, says that he, along with other senior colleagues, visited Kurunegala Teaching Hospital Director Dr. Sarath Verabandar to inform him about the false allegations against him that have surfaced on social media, as well as a possible threat to his life.
However, Dr. Verabandara replied that he could only deal with matters within the hospital, but not outside it.
Two days later, Dr. Shafi was arrested.
"I was taken to the police station without any warrant and I was placed in jail so as not to disturb the public," he said.
'Toxic Media'
The case gained additional public attention when the news was reported by television stations and false accusations appeared on social media.
"They accommodated me. I have been publicly labeled as a terrorist.
"Toxic television stations and fake news on social media have ruined my life," said Dr. Shafi.
Buddhist monks began protesting in front of the hospital where Dr. Shafi's wife, Fatima Imara, also worked.
"My wife was threatened with death. She was afraid for the lives of our children," said Dr. Shafi.
He added that she was also close to losing her job.
"My eldest daughter was preparing for her exams and wanted to go to school.
"But we couldn't let her go because of the public's anger towards us.
"She was depressed - we just had to find new schools for our children," he added.
After the arrest of the doctor, his wife and children moved to Columbus.
Since then, his children have changed three schools.
"My wife and children had to run from one place to another.
"They had no money, because my accounts were frozen," said Dr. Shafi.
Although about 800 women made statements about Muhammad Shafi - which hospital management labeled as "complaints" - the Sri Lanka Police Department informed the court on 27 June 2019 that no evidence was found against Dr Shafi in connection with the secret sterilization.
Also, reports from various Sri Lankan law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including a report from the National Intelligence Agency, stated that there was no evidence linking Shafi to any terrorist activity.
Election campaign
After the Easter bombings, former wartime defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, said he would run in the next presidential election and prevent the spread of Islamic extremism.
Anti-Muslim sentiments peaked just before the presidential elections held in November 2019.
"Racism is an addiction. "Unfortunately, people addicted to racism talk about it proudly," said Dr Shafi.
"Politicians in Sri Lanka vilified me. It's an unimaginable trauma."
Watch the video: Scandal in Greenland over secret birth control
'Pills and gel for sterilization'
The conspiracy theory that sterilization is a weapon used by Muslims to prevail in Sri Lanka has surfaced on several other occasions.
A Muslim restaurant owner was accused in 2018 of adding 'sterilization pills' to food intended for Buddhist guests.
Following this accusation, Buddhist gangs attacked a restaurant, as well as Muslim-owned shops and hotels in the eastern Sri Lankan town of Ampara.
After Dr. Shafi's arrest, the famous Buddhist monk Varakagoda Sri Gnanarathan publicly supported the stoning of Muslims and called on Buddhists to boycott Muslim-owned shops and their food.
There was also an allegation that Muslim-owned clothing store chains put so-called sterilization gel on women's underwear meant for Buddhist women.
As rumors spread on social media, hard-line Buddhists called for a boycott of Muslim-owned stores and even attacked individual shoppers.
After the violence in Ampara, the United Nations was forced to issue a statement clarifying that there were no sterilization pills or gel.
Media ethics
The Young Journalists Association of Sri Lanka was one of only a few groups to speak out against the distinctive reporting of local newspapers, television stations and websites.
According to the President of the Association, Tarind Jayawardene, only a few fact-based research articles were published about this event during that period.
The BBC spoke to several journalists whose investigative pieces "which presented both sides of the case" were not published, who said editors feared the articles would "infuriate readers and affect newspaper sales".
Jayawardena says the hate campaign against Dr Shafi by the mainstream media and social media has led to Buddhist monks calling for the stoning of Muslims.
And everything was without any basis.
"We found that of all the women who gave statements about Dr. Shafi, only 168 were trying to get pregnant.
"The others wrote statements after hearing about the case. They just wanted to be examined.
"We have a list of all complaints and we have confirmed that around 120 women gave birth after the arrest of Dr. Shafi," he added.
Proving innocence
In the absence of evidence to support the charges against him, Dr Shafi continued to work at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital in May 2023.
He received a payment in the amount of three years' earnings of about 2,7 million rupees ($8.750), which he donated to the Ministry of Health for the purchase of much-needed medicines.
Many doctors are leaving Sri Lanka in search of a better life due to the country's economic crisis, but Dr. Shafi is determined to stay and continue working at the hospital where he was falsely accused.
"My family members told me not to do it," he said, "but I know the only way to prove my innocence is to go back to the same hospital and work in the same position."
Watch the video: Roma women in the former Czechoslovakia were forcibly sterilized
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