Clip of religious procession in Iraq falsely shared as political rally in Bangladesh

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 21, 2023 at 10:34
3 min read
By AFP Bangladesh

As Bangladesh gears up for polls in early 2024, a video clip showing a large crowd filling a street has been shared in posts that falsely claim it shows a political rally organised by the country's ruling party on August 31. The video in fact circulated a month earlier and shows a religious procession in Iraq. The clip's original audio was also altered to insert the sound of people chanting Bangladeshi political slogans.

The clip was shared on Facebook here on September 1, and has since been viewed more than 900 times.

"Mujib is my spirit, Mujib is my belief. Who says Mujib is no more, Mujib is everywhere in Bengal," reads the clip's Bengali-language caption, referring to Bangladesh's founder and first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (archived link).

The crowd in the 17-second video appears to be chanting the same slogans.

The clip circulated following a rally organised by the ruling Awami League's youth wing in memory of Mujibur Rahman on August 31 (archived link).

According to the United News of Bangladesh news agency, thousands attended the rally, chanting slogans against opposition parties and in support of the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina -- Rahman's daughter (archived link).

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on September 18, 2023

The same video was shared alongside similar claims linking it to Bangladesh on Facebook here and here, as well as on YouTube here.

Commentators say Bangladesh is facing a sustained campaign of disinformation by unknown actors ahead of elections due by the end of January 2024.

An AFP investigation found hundreds of articles praising Bangladeshi government policies apparently by independent experts had appeared in national and international media but the authors have questionable credentials, fake photos, and may not even exist.

Rights groups and foreign powers, including the United States, have long raised concerns over efforts by Hasina's government to silence criticism and stamp out political dissent.

The video circulating online, however, was not filmed in Bangladesh.

Iraq religious procession

Reverse image searches on Google found the clip in fact circulated a month earlier, on July 30, on YouTube and Instagram posts from Iraq with a different audio track (archived here and here).

AFP, however, was not able to confirm when exactly the video was shot.

The captions of these posts state the procession was held to mark Ashura, an annual day of mourning for Shiite Muslims that commemorates the 7th century battlefield martyrdom of Hussein, whom Shiites view as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the YouTube video (right):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the YouTube video (right)

A closer analysis of the video shows that many in the crowd are wearing black, which Shiite worshippers will traditionally wear during Ashura. They can also be seen holding banners of Hussein.

Instead of shouting Bangladeshi political slogans, the people are chanting "loyal, hazrat Abbas" -- a phrase used to refer to the brother of Hussein.

AFP was able to geolocate the scene in the clip to Samawah city, southeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The river and bridges seen in the video can be seen in satellite imagery here on Google Maps (archived link).

Below are screenshot comparisons between the falsely shared video (left) and Google Maps satellite imagery (right), with corresponding features highlighted by AFP:

Screenshot comparisons between the falsely shared video (left) and Google Maps satellite imagery (right)

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