Abrar Ifaz

Research Officer, Dismislab
Shakib Al Hasan did not apologize to Barrister Suman
This article is more than 6 months old

Shakib Al Hasan did not apologize to Barrister Suman

Abrar Ifaz

Research Officer, Dismislab

Recently, a video of Shakib Al Hasan apologizing to Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman was seen circulating on the social media sites Facebook and TikTok (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). However, verification by Dismislab shows that the part of these videos where Shakib is seen apologizing is old and not about apologizing to Barrister Suman.

Cricketer Shakib Al Hasan was elected as Awami League’s nominated candidate from Magura-1 constituency and Barrister Syed Syedul Haque Sumon was elected as an independent candidate from Habiganj-4 constituency in the 12th National Parliament election held on January 7. Since then, these videos are seen spreading on social media. Some memes (1, 2, 3) about these two newly elected MPs have also been seen circulating.

On 16 March 2023, Barrister Suman posted a video on his Facebook page claiming that he had attended a function at Hotel Sonargaon, where Shakib Al Hasan was also present. At that time, Shakib saw him and came to beat him.

Screenshots of edited videos posted on TikTok and Facebook

Edited videos of this incident have been circulating on social media recently. In the video, Shakib is seen saying, “I am sincerely sorry. But I think he should have been careful too. Definitely very sensitive. Mistakes will happen, and with the mistake, we actually proceed in life. If I have done anything wrong, I certainly apologize to you, and if I have hurt your feelings, I also apologize for that.” In one part of the video, Barrister Suman is heard saying, “I have no such hope for Shakib now. I think only one thing, Shakib, you play well.”

The caption of the videos says that Shakib Al Hasan is apologizing to Barrister Suman. However, there is no connection between these two videos. The video of Shakib used here is originally part of a video released on 16 November 2020 by Shakib Al Hasan’s official YouTube page. In this video, Shakib basically apologizes to people for two things that happened at that time. According to news from Prothom Alo, in this video, Shakib Al Hasan initially apologized to everyone for throwing a fan’s mobile at the Benapole Port Check Post on his way to Kolkata. He later apologized to those who suffered because of his appearance at a Puja Mandapam in Kolkata.

Barrister Sumon’s statement in the video is originally from an interview he had with Ekattor Television on October 2, 2023. In the video, Barrister Suman made some comments about cricketer Shakib Al Hasan.

Screenshot of the video published on Shakib Al Hasan’s YouTube channel (left) and the video of Barrister Suman’s interview with Ekattar TV (right).

Although there is no connection between the time and context of these two videos, both videos have been edited and circulated to make it appear that Shakib Al Hasan is apologizing to Barrister Suman. The first source of this video, found by Dismislab, has 4.8 million views and over 9,000 comments.

An online news portal named Dhaka Prokash has also circulated wrong information on this issue. On January 7, a news article titled “What Barrister Sumon said about Shakib Al Hasan after becoming MP” said, “Barrister Sumon made explosive comments against Shakib Al Hasan after winning. This has spread through various social media platforms. There are diverse discussions and criticisms going on regarding this.” But the comments reported in the news were made by Barrister Sumon three months ago. In an interview given to Ekattor TV. Various videos (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) have been circulated on YouTube regarding this.