Old video shows ousted Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina during state visit to India, not 'returning to face charges'
- Published on November 21, 2024 at 10:18
- 3 min read
- By AFP Bangladesh
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"Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangabandhu, landed in Bangladesh after Trump was elected as president," read part of the Bengali-language caption to a Facebook video shared on November 6, 2024.
The caption, which used the popular title of Hasina's father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also said the country's interim leader Muhammad Yunus and leaders of prominent political parties who opposed Hasina while she was in power "should not be allowed to flee".
The video, which bears the logos of Indian news organisations The Print and ANI, shows Hasina being greeted by officials after she descended from an aeroplane. Audio from US President-elect Donald Trump's acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention is played over the top (archived link).
The clip was posted after Trump's decisive victory in the 2024 US presidential election.
Hasina's party had previously accused -- without evidence -- incumbent US President Joe Biden's government of encouraging the deadly student-led protests that brought an end to her 15 years of iron-fisted rule -- claims the White House called "simply false" (archived link).
The video was shared elsewhere on Facebook with similar false claims here and here.
It circulated after a Bangladeshi court issued an arrest warrant for the 77-year-old Hasina, who fled to neighbouring India after she was toppled in the student-led revolution (archived link).
Hasina's 15-year rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
Dozens of Hasina's allies were taken into custody after her regime collapsed, accused of culpability in a police crackdown that killed more than 700 people during the unrest that deposed her.
The former leader has not returned to the country since she fled, according to AFP journalists in Bangladesh.
Misrepresented video
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to longer and higher-quality footage that was published by The Print and ANI on YouTube June 21, 2024 (archived links here and here).
The outlets said the video was taken as Hasina -- who was Bangladesh's prime minister at the time -- arrived in India for a state visit.
She was received at the airport in New Delhi by Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state for external affairs, who can be seen greeting Hasina at the bottom of the stairs.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the video used in the false post (left) and the video posted by The Print (right), with Singh highlighted in yellow by AFP:
India's Ministry of External Affairs also posted a photo of Hasina's arrival on June 21, 2024 (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked false claims related to the unrest in Bangladesh here.
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