In the 2024 “July Genocide” case, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been named the prime accused in a formal charge submitted to the International Crimes Tribunal. With the tribunal’s permission, the proceedings were broadcast live yesterday, June 1, through BTV (source). During this trial, a video was circulated on the social media platform Facebook, claiming that lawyers were chanting “Joy Bangla” slogans in the court premises.
Watch the video circulated on Facebook here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
Fact-Check
Rumor Scanner Team’s investigation reveals that the video showing lawyers chanting “Joy Bangla” slogans in the court premises is not from June 1. In fact, the video being promoted with this claim is from October 2024, showing pro-Awami League lawyers chanting slogans in front of the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court.
At the beginning of the investigation, after reviewing the videos circulated with the claim, Rumor Scanner noticed the Channel 24 logo in the footage. In one of the videos (link), the thumbnail of a Channel 24 news report is also visible, with the headline stating “Awami League-aligned lawyers rally in court.”
Based on this information, a keyword search on Channel 24’s YouTube channel uncovered a video titled “Court rally by Awami League-aligned lawyers | Awami League | Lawyer | Channel 24” published on October 15, 2024. Watch it here.
Upon reviewing the video, it’s clear that this footage exactly matches the one being circulated with the misleading claim. The same individuals can be seen chanting slogans in both videos.
Further keyword searches to gather more information led to a relevant report published on the same day by national daily Prothom Alo. The report, titled “Awami League-aligned lawyers rally in front of Dhaka’s CMM Court”, covers the same incident.
According to the report, that day Awami League leaders Abdur Razzak and Faruk Khan were presented before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court in two separate murder cases. After the court hearing, while Faruk Khan was being escorted from the courtroom to the court jail, around 20 to 25 lawyers and a few youths began chanting slogans. However, the report mentions that after the arrival of police from Kotwali Police Station, the pro-Awami lawyers and others left the scene.
In summary, the video of people chanting “Joy Bangla” slogans in the court premises has no connection to the trial of Sheikh Hasina at the International Crimes Tribunal on June 1.
Conclusion
Therefore, a video that is about 7 months old is being circulated with the claim that lawyers raised “Joy Bangla” slogans in the court premises during the live broadcast of Sheikh Hasina’s trial at the International Crimes Tribunal on June 1, which is misleading.
Sources
- Channel 24 YouTube Channel: Court rally by Awami League-aligned lawyers | Awami League | Lawyer | Channel 24
- Prothom Alo Website: Awami League-aligned lawyers rally in front of Dhaka’s CMM Court
