Video of Ducsu leaders’ return falsely claimed as departure
A video has recently circulated on Facebook claiming that participants in the July Uprising are fleeing the country following reports of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s return to Bangladesh. However, a verification by Dismislab found that the footage actually shows leaders of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) returning to Bangladesh on May 24 after a visit to China.
A Facebook profile posted a 13-second video with the caption, “Hearing the news that People’s Leader Sheikh Hasina is returning, the traitorous jongli [used instead of militants to avoid strike from Facebook] are fleeing the country.”
The video shows Ducsu Student Transport Secretary Asif Abdullah, Literary and Cultural Affairs Secretary Musaddiq Ali Ibne Mohammad and Social Welfare Secretary Zubair Bin Nesary. They can be seen walking forward carrying suitcases. As of the publication of this report, the video had been viewed more than 110,000 times and shared 1,100 times.
The same video was also posted from multiple Facebook profiles (1, 2, 3).
As part of its investigation, Dismislab extracted several keyframes from the video and conducted a reverse image search. It led to a video published on Facebook by a page named ‘‘Bd24report.’’ The post read, “Ducsu leaders, including Zuma and Salma, returned to Dhaka after their visit to China.” In the 25-second video, published on May 24, 2026, the individuals, their clothing, and the surrounding scene from the beginning of the video through the 16-second mark match the circulated footage.
A search using relevant keywords found news reports about the matter published by multiple media outlets (1, 2, 3, 4). According to those reports, a 15-member delegation led by Ducsu Vice President Shadik Kayem departed for a seven-day visit to China on May 17 at the invitation of the Chinese Embassy. The delegation returned to Bangladesh on May 24 after completing the visit.
