The incident of stabbing an imam is not from Bangladesh as claimed
A video has spread on social media claiming that an imam was stabbed while leading prayers in Bangladesh. But verification shows the video is from Baitur Rahman Mosque in Tompira village of North Morowali region, Central Sulawesi province of Indonesia. There, on August 25, a local youth stabbed the imam.
The video circulating on social media is basically CCTV footage. It shows a man in a white panjabi and cap leading the prayer. At that moment, a young man wearing a brown panjabi and a black cap comes forward with a knife and stabs the imam from the side while he was in ruku. After stabbing the imam the youth tries to escape, but a man standing behind the imam catches him. The caption of the post reads, “While leading prayer, an imam stabbed! Most worshippers wearing lungi, incident in Bangladesh. Terrorist Yunus has turned the country into Pakistan” . At the time of writing this report, the video had been viewed 32,000 times and shared 100 times.
From multiple Facebook profiles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and pages, the video was seen being shared with the same claim. It was posted also from one profile on X with the same claim. Some posts even claimed that the incident took place in Magura, Bangladesh.
A reverse image search with keyframes of the clip being circulated a video, discovered a video, uploaded on YouTube on August 31, 2025. It matches exactly with the video spread claiming to be from Bangladesh. The caption of that video reads, “In Indonesia, an imam was stabbed inside a mosque while leading prayer.”
Following Indonesian sources, Dismislab found a related incident from August through keyword searches. . On August 26, 2025, Indonesian-based news outlet Detiknews, published a report on this incident. It said, “A person named A.L. (23) stabbed a Quran teacher named Muhammad Jumali (27) during Fajr prayer at Baitur Rahman Mosque in North Morowali region of Central Sulawesi province. During ruku, the attacker stabbed the imam in the stomach.” The report added, “The incident was caught on mosque CCTV footage on Tuesday, August 26, 2025.”
Quoting the statement of North Morowali Police Criminal Investigation Unit’s head, First Inspector Theodoras Resupal, Indonesia-based news outlet Jajakfakta also published a report the same day. The photo attached to that report matched exactly with the video recently spread as if from Bangladesh. In that report, Jajakfakta wrote, “The accused person has been arrested, and as evidence, a knife and a mobile phone have been seized at North Morowali police station. The injured imam has been transferred to Kolonodale Regional General Hospital.” Multiple Indonesian media (1, 2) also published the report.
Therefore, the video is not from Bangladesh. It is from an incident in Indonesia in August this year.
Disclaimer: The original version of this report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on September 14, 2025. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
