A video has been circulated online with the caption: “In Australia’s Senate Chamber, Sheikh Hasina was declared legitimate. Senator Richard Di Natale also said that Sheikh Hasina would be brought back to Bangladesh with full security and that the ruling Greens Federation would support her in the upcoming elections.”
The claim further adds that this message was later formally conveyed to Bangladesh’s interim government.
You can see posts spreading this claim on Facebook here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
On TikTok, the same claim was spread here (archive).
Fact-check
Rumor Scanner’s investigation found that Australian Greens Senator Richard Di Natale never made any statement about bringing Sheikh Hasina back to Bangladesh or guaranteeing her security.
In reality, the viral video is from 2018, when Richard Di Natale raised concerns in the Australian Senate about Bangladesh’s then-political situation. That video has been repurposed to spread the current false claim.
At the start of the investigation, a Facebook post spreading the claim linked to a video as “evidence.” Upon further research, a video titled “Bangladesh issue in Australian Senate” was found on the Australia 24 News YouTube channel, published on September 13, 2018. The visuals in this clip match the viral video.
Closer review shows that clips from 01:39–02:22 (Richard Di Natale’s remarks) and 02:49–03:03 (the anchor’s remarks) were spliced together using digital editing to create the misleading viral video.
In his original speech, Richard Di Natale said:
“In recent months, Bangladesh’s security forces have killed hundreds of people. Members of Australia’s Bangladeshi community have raised concerns directly with us, asking us to raise this issue in Parliament. Once again, we remind the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ call: extrajudicial killings must immediately stop. Bangladesh is our regional neighbor, and I hope the government shows courage, encourages due process, releases political prisoners, and helps address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region.”
This confirms that his remarks were about human rights violations in Bangladesh in 2018, not about Sheikh Hasina’s legitimacy or return.
Supporting this, the official Parliament of Australia transcript shows that this Senate session was held on August 13, 2018.
Additionally, Richard Di Natale resigned from the Senate on August 26, 2020.
No credible media reports or official records support the claim about Sheikh Hasina.
Conclusion
The claim that Australia’s Senate Chamber, through Senator Richard Di Natale, declared Sheikh Hasina legitimate and promised her security is entirely false. The video is actually from 2018 and has been digitally edited to spread disinformation.
Sources
- Australia 24 News – Bangladesh issue in Australian Senate
- Parliament of Australia – Transcript
- Parliament of Australia – Profile of Richard Di Natale
