Manipulated image of Bangladesh student leader stokes suspicion
- Published on December 12, 2025 at 05:04
- 2 min read
- By Rasheek MUJIB, AFP Bangladesh
Bangladesh's university unions have drawn national attention following the student-led uprising that ousted former leader Sheikh Hasina, with a recently elected student leader being targeted with an edited image of him holding the flag of Pakistan. The original photo shows Abu Shadik Kayem holding a Bangladesh flag during a tour of his hometown -- he told AFP he has "never held a Pakistan flag" in his life.
The photo of Kayem, who was elected vice president of the Dhaka University Central Student Union in September, apparently holding a Pakistani flag as he stands in the sunroof of a car was shared on Facebook on December 1 .
Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971.
"Shadik Kayem campaigning for election with Pakistan flag," reads Bengali-language text under the image. The post repeats the same claim.
Kayem was active in the student-led protests that ousted Bangladesh's ex-leader Sheikh Hasina in 2024 (archived link).
He is also a prominent member of the Islamist Jamaat-E-Islami group's youth wing, which was banned under Hasina but has since gained momentum after the Supreme Court restored the party's registration in June, paving the way for its participation in elections slated for next February (archived link).
During Bangladesh's war of independence from Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami supported Islamabad, a role that still sparks anger among many Bangladeshis today.
The image of Kayem supposedly holding the Pakistani flag also surfaced on Facebook and Instagram after he filed a police report for cyber harassment against 18 individuals and more than a dozen Facebook pages, alleging they had targeted him with misinformation (archived link).
A reverse image search on Google found the circulating image was first shared by a self-described "entertainment" Facebook page in a November 28 post mocking Kayem.
Further reverse image searches found the altered image matches a photo posted by Kayem on his verified Facebook page on November 26, in which he is seen holding the Bangladesh national flag (archived link).
Local news reports published similar videos of Kayem standing in the sunroof of a vehicle, stating it showed Kayem on a visit to his hometown in the southeastern Khagrachhari district after winning the student election (archived here and here).
Kayem also told AFP the picture was fabricated.
"I have never held a Pakistan flag ever in my hands in my life," he told AFP on December 3 by phone.
"A lot of people share such content, without even understanding the harm in it and often results in the victim's character assassination."
AFP has debunked other false claims about Bangladesh's political turmoil.
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