Saudi prince addressing summit falsely shared as 'funeral prayer for Islamist leader'

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 29, 2023 at 09:18
2 min read
By AFP Bangladesh

A video of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman addressing a diplomatic summit has garnered millions of views in posts that falsely claim it shows him giving a funeral prayer for Bangladeshi Islamist leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee. Salman was speaking at the GCC-Central Asia Summit in Jeddah, which took place weeks before Sayedee's death.

"Arranging a funeral prayer in absentia for Allama Delawar Hossain Sayedee in the holy Kaaba has been approved," reads a Bengali-language Facebook post, using an Islamic honorary title to refer to Sayedee.

The clip, which has more than six million views, shows Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman speaking in Arabic.

The post was shared one day after around 50,000 people attended the funeral of influential Islamist leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee, police said, after news of his death while he was in prison for war crimes prompted violent anti-government protests.

Sayedee, 83, was sentenced to death in 2013 for rape, murder and the persecution of Hindu Bangladeshis during the country's independence war decades earlier.

The Kaaba, a giant black cube towards which all Muslims pray, is found at Islam's holiest site, the Grand Mosque, in Saudi Arabia's Mecca region.

The video was shared widely on Facebook, including here and here, prompting comments such as "Praise be to God" and "Amen".

Summit video

A reverse image search found a longer video of the video, which shows bin Salman speaking at a diplomatic summit weeks before Sayedee's death.

The video was posted on July 19 on a YouTube channel called "Saudi On Demand" (archived link).

The video is a livestream of the GCC-Central Asia Summit, which was held that day in Jeddah, between the Gulf Cooperation Council and five Central Asian republics.

The clip of Bin Salman featured in false posts can be found at the video's 4:30:41 timestamp.

"I am pleased, on behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, to welcome you to Saudi Arabia, your second country," he says in Arabic.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz is Mohammed bin Salman's father.

"I ask Allah the Almighty to grant success to our first summit, for the good of our countries that are linked by historic ties," he added.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the footage in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the video broadcast on July 19:

Saudi media reported on bin Salman's speech here and here (archived here and here).

The Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA) published a transcript of the leader's speech (archived link).

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