Old video circulated claiming torture of female garment workers
A video that recently spread on Facebook claims that “BNP terrorists” are publicly tying up and torturing women garment workers during the protest. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that the circulated video had been online nearly five months earlier. According to a report published on May 12 by a local online outlet in Noakhali, this is footage of the detention of a member of an active female thief gang at Sonaimuri in the district.
A 20-second video was posted on November 5 by a page named “Driver League.” The video shows many people crowded around a woman, with one man tying the woman’s hands. White lettering inside the video reads, “Chhatra Dal’s (the student wing of the BNP) brutality against a hungry woman!” The post states, “Pachist Tarique’s terrorist party is publicly tying up and torturing women garment workers in the movement.” (Verbatim)
As of the publication of this report, the video had been viewed more than 90,000 times and shared more than 2,400 times. More than 2,900 users reacted to the post. One commented, “One point, one demand: we want the fall of the illegitimate government ☝️.” Another wrote, “If workers are saved, Bangladesh will be saved. ❤️❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥”
The video was posted with the same claim from multiple Facebook profiles and pages (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
To verify the claim, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search using keyframes of the video. This led to a video report published five months earlier on the Facebook page of the local online media outlet “Noakhali Khobor 24”. The first 20 seconds of this 2-minute-04-second video, published on May 12, 2026, completely match the scenes of the recently spread video. According to the report, a member of an active female money-thief ring/pickpocketing gang in Sonaimuri, Noakhali, was caught by locals. An angry crowd then beat the woman, creating considerable unrest throughout the area.
A search with relevant keywords found video reports on the incident published on several Facebook pages that identify themselves as news outlets (1, 2, 3, 4). These reports, published in May of this year, also describe the woman as a member of a thief ring. No political identity was given in the reports for those who were beating the woman.
In other words, disinformation is being spread on Facebook by circulating a video of a different, five-month-old incident with the claim of torture of women garment workers.
Incidentally, garment workers in the country have recently been protesting demanding a minimum monthly wage of Tk30,000 for garment factories.
