Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, was deposed on August 5 last year through a student-people’s uprising and took refuge in neighboring India. Since then, although she has spoken to party leaders and activists and communicated via calls several times online, she has never appeared in the media or in public. However, on October 29, her interviews were published for the first time in three international media outlets: the British newspaper The Independent, the American media Reuters, and the French news agency AFP. The media reports mentioned that Sheikh Hasina’s interviews were taken via email. But recently, a video of Sheikh Hasina speaking was broadcast live on a Facebook page named “Sheikh Hasina আমি শুধু ভক্ত” (Sheikh Hasina I am just a devotee), claiming to be the video of her interview with Reuters.
See the video broadcast live on Facebook here (Archive).
Fact-Check
Rumor Scanner Team’s investigation found that the video in question is not the video of Sheikh Hasina giving an interview to Reuters. Furthermore, the video circulated with the claim is also not real. In fact, the circulated video is a fake live video. The video was created with the help of digital technology by changing the background of an old video of Sheikh Hasina speaking and adding a recently delivered online speech to it.
In the investigation regarding the discussed claim, no information was found about Sheikh Hasina giving an interview on camera, other than the interview she provided to Reuters via email. It is also not known that she gave an interview on camera to any other media outlet.
Subsequently, in searching for the source of the video, a live broadcast video of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaking was found on the YouTube channel of the online media outlet Bayanno TV on June 24, 2024.
A review of the video shows that several parts of the footage in the circulated video match the footage in the found video. In both videos, Sheikh Hasina is seen speaking in the same saree in front of the same microphone. Only the circulated video has had the background of the source video digitally removed. Additionally, the title of the original video indicates that it is a video of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaking at the Bangabandhu Scholar Award ceremony. This means that this video has no connection with her recent interview given to Reuters. Furthermore, a discrepancy was observed between the speech in the original video and the speech heard in the circulated video.
Therefore, to investigate the speech of Sheikh Hasina used in the circulated video, the entire speech in the video was reviewed, where Sheikh Hasina is heard discussing the state-appointed lawyer on her behalf. Following the lead of the information found, an audio message of Sheikh Hasina recently broadcast on the Awami League YouTube channel was found. The speech in this audio message matches the speech heard in the circulated video. From this, it is confirmed that a fake live video was circulated with the discussed claim by changing the background of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s old video of speaking using digital technology and adding the said audio message.
Moreover, a review of the page named “Sheikh Hasina আমি শুধু ভক্ত” (Sheikh Hasina I am just a devotee) shows that the same video of Sheikh Hasina speaking was subsequently broadcast live two more times claiming to be her interview with Reuters. See the videos here and here. The page was also seen promoting multiple other fake live videos of Sheikh Hasina. See some such fake live videos here, here, and here.
Thus, the video circulated on social media, claiming to be Sheikh Hasina’s interview with the international media outlet Reuters, is edited.
Sources
- Bayanno TV Youtube Channel: বঙ্গবন্ধু স্কলার অ্যাওয়ার্ড অনুষ্ঠানে প্রধানমন্ত্রী
- Bangladesh Awami League Official Youtube Channel: এই দুঃশাসনের হাত থেকে বাংলাদেশকে ইনশাআল্লাহ রক্ষা করব: শেখ হাসিনা
- Rumor Scanner’s Analysis
