Old video of Gopalganj claimed to show Hasina at Bangladesh border
A video was recently circulated on Facebook claiming that ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina viewed Bangladesh from the Benapole border in Jashore. However, a fact-check by Dismislab found that the footage is from an incident that took place in 2023 on the way to Tungipara in Gopalganj.
On August 4, a personal Facebook profile posted a 28-second video. The post read, “Today, prime minister Sheikh Hasina viewed the country from the Jashore Benapole border. Very soon, Sheikh Hasina will deliver a video message! The leader has been seen after nearly two years. It is your responsibility to show everyone! Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.” (spelling unchanged).
The video shows Sheikh Hasina stepping out of a vehicle and waving to people. While greeting people from within a security cordon, boatmen on boats in the river ahead are seen reacting enthusiastically. Chants of “Joy Bangla” can also be heard in the video. As of the publication of this report, the video had been viewed more than 50,000 times and shared nearly 400 times. Users commenting on the post expressed support for the Awami League, by making comments such as “Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu” and “Joy Sheikh Hasina.”
Another personal Facebook profile posted a slightly edited version of the video with the caption, “Sheikh Hasina came to the border and viewed Bangladesh.” As of the publication of this report, the video had been viewed more than 110,000 times and shared nearly 650 times.
The video was also found 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 found a video published on the Ekattor TV YouTube channel. Published on February 26, 2023, the video’s title reads, “Prime Minister Suddenly Gets Out of Her Car After Stopping Her Motorcade to Watch a Boat Race.” At the 29-second mark of the 2-minute 12-second video, the appearances of Sheikh Hasina, members of the security force, and the surrounding scene match the circulated footage.
The same footage was also found in another video published on the ATN News YouTube channel. The description of the video, published on February 26, 2023, states, “After finishing a public rally in Kotalipara Upazila, Gopalganj, and while travelling to her home in Tungipara, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina suddenly got out of her car after seeing a traditional boat race on a canal.”
A search using relevant keywords found news reports about the incident published by multiple media outlets ( 1, 2, 3). According to those reports, in 2023, then prime minister Sheikh Hasina departed for her residence in Tungipara after attending a public rally in Kotalipara, Gopalganj. On the way, she stopped her vehicle on the bank of the Bhangarhat Canal and watched a traditional boat race.
In other words, footage from an incident in 2023 is being falsely circulated with the claim that Sheikh Hasina peered into Bangladesh from the Benapole border recently.
(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.)
