Old funeral procession video shared as Awami League rally at High Court
A video was circulated on social media with claims that a large procession of Awami League leaders and activists took place in front of the Dhaka High Court. However, Dismislab’s verification found that the video is from June 1, which shows a procession following the funeral prayer of Tofail Ahmed, a veteran politician and one of the organisers of Bangladesh’s Liberation War.
On November 8, the video was posted on Facebook by several profiles with captions claiming that a massive Awami League procession had taken place in front of Dhaka High Court. The footage shows a group of people marching while chanting “Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.”
Before this report was published, the post had received more than 2,800 reactions and had been shared more than 300 times.
Several other Facebook posts circulated with the same claim (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11). A similar post was also found on Instagram.
A reverse image search led to a video published on June 1 on the Facebook page of news outlet Channel i. The post was captioned, “A procession chanting slogans after Tofail Ahmed’s funeral prayer.” A visual match with the video circulating on Facebook was found from the 33-second mark of the 2 minute and 41 second video.
In addition, a Facebook reel published by Dhaka Tribune about the same incident was found. Campus Times also published a report on the incident. The video and images used in the report match the footage circulating on social media.
A keyword search also led to reports about the incident in several news outlets (1, 2, 3, and 4). The reports stated that police had detained seven people following a disturbance over the “Joy Bangla” slogan after Tofail Ahmed’s first funeral prayer at Taqwa Mosque in Dhanmondi, Dhaka.
Therefore, the video circulated on Facebook and Instagram with claims that it shows a recent Awami League procession in front of Dhaka High Court does not depict a new procession. It is an old video showing a procession following Tofail Ahmed’s funeral prayer in June.
