Fake claim about declaring Sheikh Hasina the legitimate Prime Minister

A claim has recently circulated on Facebook that the President of Peru declared former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the ‘legitimate Prime Minister’ at the ‘Global Humor Conference’ held in Iran. However, verification by Dismislab shows that this claim is not correct. The first Facebook profile from which this claim was made is also fake. The profile, featuring a photo of UAE Minister of State Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashimy, had previously disseminated misleading and false information about Sheikh Hasina.

In several posts circulating on Facebook (1, 2, 3), it is claimed that the President of Peru declared Sheikh Hasina as the “legitimate Prime Minister” at the “Global Humor Conference” held in Iran. Verification shows that, on July 29, a Facebook profile named ‘Tamanna Akter Yesman’ made this claim for the first time through a post. The post attached three photos with the text: “Breaking News Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s name announced as legitimate Prime Minister. At the Global Humor Conference held in Iran, the President of Peru, Emerson Gaoter Borti announced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s name as the legitimate Prime Minister. When she arrived at the assembly, I warmly welcomed her and exchanged greetings…”

Reverse image search of the three photos attached to the post by the profile “Tamanna Akter Yesman” shows that the photos were published six years ago on the verified Facebook page of the Prime Minister of Mali, “Primature du Mali.” Along with those three photos, several other photos of the same person can also be seen in that 2019 post. Translating the French description of that post into English reads, “The Prime Minister meets the Minister of International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates. On an official working visit to the United Arab Emirates, the Prime Minister, Head of Government met this Monday morning with the Minister of International Cooperation, Mrs. Reem Ibrahim Al Hashimi. This exchange aimed to deepen economic and investment relations commensurate with the relations of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.”

Keyword searches found no information about any conference in Iran named “Global Humor Conference.” Also, the current President of Peru is not Emerson Gaoter Borti. The name of the country’s current President is Dina Boluarte. From this, it is confirmed that the claim about granting legitimacy to Sheikh Hasina using those photos is not correct.

This claim is being spread through a fake Facebook account using the photos of UAE Minister of State Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashimy. The woman shown in the profile picture and cover photo of the account is Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashimy. The profile picture was taken in 2023 when Hashimy met Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The cover photo was from a meeting in Dubai in 2024 with Australian Labor Party member Tim Watts. This makes it clear that “Tamanna Akter Yesman” is a fake ID created by stealing information of a political figure from the UAE. Analyzing the profile shows that most of its recent posts are about the ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her political party, the Awami League.

The transparency section of the Facebook profile shows that this ID was created on November 24, 2024. That means it was created after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the country on August 5 following the student movement. According to Facebook’s information, the admin of the profile is located in Bangladesh.

Earlier, another Facebook profile with almost the same name had been accused of spreading false information multiple times. That profile, named ‘Tamanna Akter Yasmin,’ was the subject of several fact-check reports (1, 2, 3) and an analytical report by fact-checking organization Rumor Scanner. However, now it is seen that by slightly changing the name, the profile is being operated as ‘Tamanna Akter Yesman’ and is spreading similar misleading information.