Clip shows Bangladeshi actor harassed in Dhaka, not 'American tourist targeted for not wearing hijab'
- Published on October 22, 2024 at 12:13
- 3 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
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"An American woman is heckled and harassed by Bangladeshis for not wearing Hijab (sic). This is what free Bangladesh under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Younus (sic) looks like - A Global shame", read the caption of a post alongside the video on X on September 30.
The 20-second clip shows a woman on a rickshaw being heckled by some people on a road in the capital Dhaka.
It was shared with a similar false claim on Facebook here and on X here.
The posts emerged after local media in Bangladesh reported a spate of incidents of women -- including a filmmaker and journalist -- being harassed for not wearing a Muslim dress or headscarf (archived links here and here).
The cases came to light in the months after the creation of an interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power after weeks of student-led protests, fleeing to neighbouring India by helicopter (archived link).
The offices of her Awami League party were subsequently looted and torched, and many party members went into hiding fearing violence.
However, the video does not show an American woman being harassed in Bangladesh.
Heckled after birthday celebration
A reverse image search followed by keyword searches on Google found the same video published on the verified Facebook page of Indian media outlet Times Now on October 1, 2024 (archived link).
"Actress Mishti Subas, and a supporter of Sheikh Hasina was harassed for celebrating Sheikh Hasina's birthday by cutting cake in Bangladesh," the caption said.
Hasina turned 77 on September 28. In mid-October, a Bangladeshi court issued an arrest warrant for the exiled ex-leader.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the clip published by Times Now (right):
A longer version of the video was published on the verified YouTube channel of Bangladeshi news outlet Protidiner Bangladesh on September 29, 2024 (archived link).
"Happy Happy Happy day, Sheikh Hasina's birthday," Subas can be heard saying in the video in Bengali.
Shortly afterwards, the bystanders can be heard saying: "Autocrat's birthday, Sheikh Hasina's birthday. Sheikh Hasina is a killer."
Below is a screenshot comparison of Subas as seen in the false post video (left) and the YouTube video (right):
The incident was also reported by several Bangladeshi media outlets here, here and here (archived links here, here and here).
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