Hasnat and Shadik were invited to UK by Oxford Union Society, not Oxford University

A claim has recently circulated on the social media platform Facebook that the Member of Parliament for the Cumilla-4 constituency, Hasnat Abdullah, and the Vice President (VP) of the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU), Shadik Kayem, have traveled to the United Kingdom at the invitation of Oxford University. However, a verification by Dismislab reveals that on the evening of June 14, they participated in a panel discussion on Bangladesh’s July mass uprising organized at the Oxford Union Society. The Oxford Union is an independent debating institution that is not a part of Oxford University.

On June 13, a post was made from a personal Facebook profile with a caption stating, “Shadik Kayem has arrived in London at the invitation of Oxford University! Last year at the airport, the League harassed the NCP and BNP, but it will not be able to give even a flower’s touch to Shibir. Shibir is as powerful on foreign soil as it is strong in the country.” Up until the writing of this report, there were more than 5,000 reactions on the post.

The same claim was posted from multiple (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) personal profiles on Facebook.

Meanwhile, on June 13, a post was made from a personal Facebook profile, where one part of the caption read, “Hasnat Abdullah arrived in the United Kingdom today at the invitation of Oxford University.” Up until the writing of this report, there were nearly 4,000 reactions to this post. This claim was also made on another personal Facebook profile. The claim was posted from multiple (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) personal Facebook profiles and pages with the caption, “Royal entry of Captain Hasnat Abdullah and VP Shadik Kayem at Oxford University.”

Multiple (1, 2) media outlets also published reports carrying the claim. On June 12, Jagaran News posted a photo card on its Facebook page, writing, “Hasnat Abdullah has arrived in London to deliver a speech at Oxford University.”

While verifying the truth, it was found that because there were certain restrictions regarding which subjects the student members of Oxford University could discuss and what kinds of opinions they could express, some students of Oxford University independently established the “United Debating Society” in 1822. The Oxford Union is an independent debating institution that is not a part of Oxford University.

In this context, on the evening of June 14, Hasnat Abdullah and Shadik Kayem participated in a panel discussion titled “The Student-Led Uprising and the Future of Post-Revolutionary Bangladesh” organized at the Oxford Union Society centering Bangladesh’s July mass uprising.

In fact, in December last year, multiple Bangladeshi youths, including Shadik Kayem and Hasnat Abdullah, were invited to be present as panel speakers at an international seminar on the “July Revolution of Bangladesh” organized by the traditional Oxford Union of the United Kingdom. In continuation of this, they participated in the panel on June 14. At this time, when leaders and activists of the UK branch of the banned Awami League staged a protest outside, the UK police brought the situation under control.

That is to say, Hasnat Abdullah and Shadik Kayem traveled to the United Kingdom at the invitation of The Oxford Union, not Oxford University.