Video shows ousted Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina with Donald Trump in 2017, not 2024

"Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina is congratulating the new president of the United States," read a Bengali-language Facebook post shared on November 11, 2024 days after Trump was reelected to the White House.

It included a video, viewed more than 10,000 times, showing Hasina and Trump shaking hands surrounded by what appears to be a crowd of dignitaries.

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Screenshot of the false post taken December 24, 2024

Hasina -- whose 15-year tenure saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents -- was last seen arriving in neighbouring India after fleeing Bangladesh by helicopter as crowds stormed her palace on August 5 (archived link).

In a note issued by her Awami League party on Facebook on November 6, Hasina congratulated Trump on his electoral victory (archived link).

"She stated that his resounding election victory is a testament to his extraordinary leadership qualities and the immense trust bestowed on him by the American people," the note read in part.

The video of the old meeting between Hasina and Trump also resurfaced with false claims on Facebook here and here.

A combination of keyword and reverse image searches found the video earlier published by Channel 24, a leading Bangladeshi television channel, on September 19, 2017 (archived link).

The report, which was about a meeting between Hasina and Trump during that year's UN General Assembly meeting, was titled in Bengali: "Bangladesh expects no help from Trump on Rohingya issue: Prime Minister".

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video shared in the false posts (left) and the one published by Channel 24 in 2017 (right):

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Screenshot comparison between the video shared in the false posts (left) and the one published by Channel 24 in 2017 (right)

Footage of the same meeting taken from a slightly different angle was also published by Al Jazeera English on September 20, 2017 (archived link).

News agency Reuters reported on the meeting (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked misinformation about the turmoil in Bangladesh here, here and here.