Muslim actress misidentified as 'Hindu woman' protesting against attacks in Bangladesh

"Video from Bangladesh. Hindu Women crying as they have been given an ultimatum to either convert or leave Bangladesh," read a Facebook post published on August 12, 2024.

It went on to say in Hindi: "Hindus, support us wholeheartedly, Bangladesh Hindus need us, tomorrow you will also need us, 57 countries are united."

The 12-second clip shows a rain-drenched woman shouting into a loudspeaker before breaking into tears. "Because the country is mine and we will also reform the country," she said.

The date "August 12, 2024" and Hindi-language text that read "listen to the roar of the Hindu lioness of Bangladesh" can be seen on the video. 

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Screenshot of the false post taken August 20, 2024

Similar false claims surfaced elsewhere on Facebook and X in Hindu-majority India.  

The false claim appeared after more than 1,000 Hindus gathered to demand Bangladesh's new interim government, led by Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, urgently protect members of their faith from harm (archived link).  

There were numerous reports of attacks against Hindus after Hasina -- who had been in power since 2009 -- resigned and fled to India on August 5 following a student-led uprising.  

Hindus are the largest minority ethnic group in Bangladesh and are considered a steadfast support base for Hasina's party, the Awami League. 

But the video actually shows a Bangladesh actress Azmeri Haque Badhon speaking in solidarity with the student-led protests -- days before Hasina resigned. 

Old video 

Badhon told AFP on August 26 that she is a Muslim and the video showed her "talking at a rally of the students".

She also addressed the false claims on her official Facebook page on August 13, 2024 and called the false claims "blatant lies and propaganda spread by Indian media and far-right groups about Bangladesh" (archived link).

"As a proud Bangladeshi, I'm sharing my own video from a recent protest where I demanded rights for students and spoke out against the tyrannical Hasina regime," she wrote.

Badhon also posted a longer video of her speech at the rally on Facebook on August 3 showing a similar scene (archived link). 

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video used in the false posts (left) and the clip shared by Badhon (right): 

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Screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) and the video shared by Badhon (right)

Further keyword searches found a report by the Bengali-language daily Ajker Patrika which included a similar photo of Badhon in the rain from a different angle (archived link).

The report said she took part in a demonstration by visual artists to show solidarity with the student protesters in Bangladesh on August 1, where she gave a speech demanding reforms to the government. 

According to the report, she said: "A state that openly shoots innocent people indiscriminately, a state that makes mass arrests indiscriminately, that state can never be a reflection of a democratic state."

The protest was also covered by local media outlets here and here (archived links here and here). 

AFP has debunked other false and misleading claims related to the unrest in Bangladesh here.

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