Photo of Sarjis Alam in bandages holding crutches is AI-edited

An image showing National Citizen Party (NCP) Chief Organizer for the northern region Sarjis Alam standing with bandages on his hand and leg, leaning on crutches, has spread on social media. However, Dismislab’s fact-check has found that the image was edited using artificial intelligence (AI). Bandages and crutches were added using AI to a photograph of Sarjis Alam standing in the same pose and wearing the same clothing.

The image was posted on July 29 from a verified Facebook page named “Daily Bangladesh Sangbad” (Dainik Bangladesh Sangbad). The post read, “Attack on NCP leader Sarjis Alam!” Examination of the image shows Sarjis Alam standing, apparently injured, leaning on crutches. His left hand and right leg are bandaged. Several people are shown standing behind him.

The same image was posted in a Facebook group with the caption, ‘‘I was not at all prepared to see this. This is not right. I truly cannot understand what is meant by disturbing the peace inside the country like this.’’ Among the comments on the post, one user wrote, ‘‘You showed a small cut on the hand… now look, the whole body is in plaster… what an actor… looks like he got burned all over’’. Another wrote, “Acting like Harun Kissinger [popular Bangladeshi comedian and film artist]. It would look even better with some red paint on the bandage.’’ 

The image was also found circulating in a Facebook group (1), on a personal account (1), and on YouTube (1). Among these, one Facebook post was shared more than 100 times.

In its investigation, Dismislab examined the image using OpenAI’s image-detection tool. The results showed that the image had been created using an OpenAI tool. The tool reported finding OpenAI’s SynthID watermark in the image. When the image was input into the AI image detection tool ImageWhisperer, it stated that the image had a likelihood of being staged or digitally manipulated.

A search using relevant keywords found news reports on the incident published by multiple news outlets (1, 2, 3). According to these reports, on July 28, an attack and vandalism occurred in Habiganj targeting the motorcade of NCP Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwari and Chief Organizer Sarjis Alam. Several people, including Sarjis, were injured in the incident.

The photograph of an injured Sarjis Alam published in these reports matches the circulated image in terms of his facial expression, clothing, the two doors visible behind him, and the clothing of the two individuals standing in front of him. However, in these images, no bandages or crutches are visible on his hands or feet. This indicates that the photograph used in these news reports is the same as the one on which bandages and crutches were added before being circulated.

In other words, a photograph of Sarjis Alam was altered using AI to add bandages and a crutch before being circulated.

All social media captions, quotations, and news excerpts in this article have been translated into English from the languages in which they were originally posted or published.