Man who slapped fellow passenger on Biman flight is not BNP leader Rafiq Azad
A video has recently spread on Facebook claiming that BNP leader Rafiq Azad slapped a fellow passenger on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight after the passenger made negative remarks about the BNP. But Dismislab’s fact-check shows that the man who struck the fellow passenger is Abdul Subhan. Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ General Manager of Public Relations, Bosra Islam, confirmed that the man was removed from the aircraft in Jeddah before the flight departed for Bangladesh.
On the night of November 7, a Facebook profile named “Doctor Aizuddin” uploaded a 10-second video. It shows a man wearing a cap slapping another passenger inside an aircraft, followed by a scuffle between the two. Another passenger then pulls the man wearing the cap from behind and pushes him away. The caption reads, “BNP leader Rafiq Azad is slapping a young man on the cheek because he said he left the country due to BNP’s oppression!! Mobs are active on land, in water, and in the sky.” As of the writing of this report, the video has been shared more than 300 times and has drawn more than 60 comments. Multiple other Facebook pages and profiles have also shared the video (1, 2, 3, 4).
To verify the incident, a reverse search of several key frames from the video revealed matching footage posted on the verified Facebook page of “Channel 24.” Its caption reads, “Passengers scuffle on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight!”
Comments made by various Facebook users under the post indicate that a user named Abdur Rahman Selim wrote that he was on the same flight. His profile also contains a post from November 5 with a travel tag showing he was departing Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport for Sylhet. Based on this, Dismislab contacted Abdur Rahman Selim for details. He said he was indeed on the same flight. Before takeoff, the passenger in question was behaving abnormally and using abusive language. He repeatedly performed sujood inside the aircraft. He refused to sit on his seat. This caused the flight to be delayed by nearly an hour. At one point, another passenger expressed annoyance, and the man with abnormal behavior slapped him. Security personnel later removed the individual from the aircraft.
According to Abdur Rahman Selim, the BG 236 flight was scheduled to depart Jeddah for Sylhet at 10:45 p.m. on November 5.
To learn more about the passenger, Dismislab contacted Bosra Islam, the General Manager of Public Relations at Biman Bangladesh. She provided full details of the incident and also sent Dismislab a photo of a written statement signed by Biman Bangladesh’s Jeddah station manager. She said the man wearing the cap who slapped the other passenger is Abdul Subhan. He was in seat 22D on BG 236, the Jeddah-to-Sylhet flight of November 5. Based on the authorities’ account, he was removed from the aircraft for the safety of other passengers.
The information provided by Biman Bangladesh officials matches the account of Abdur Rahman Selim. Based on the signed document from Biman’s Jeddah station manager, the details provided by Bosra Islam, and the testimony of another passenger on the same flight, the claim is false.
The man who slapped another passenger on the Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight is not BNP leader Rafiq Azad; his name is Abdul Subhan.
