On July 9, international news outlet BBC published a documentary on its YouTube channel ‘BBC World Service’, titled “The Battle for Bangladesh: Fall of Sheikh Hasina – BBC World Service Documentaries.” The documentary presents various events and information, including then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s role in suppressing the July-August protests.
In addition, BBC’s website on the same day published a report titled “Ex-Bangladesh leader authorised deadly crackdown, leaked audio suggests”. The documentary features an audio or call recording of Sheikh Hasina, which, according to the BBC, has been verified for authenticity. In the recording, Sheikh Hasina is heard saying: “I have given an open directive. Now they will use lethal weapons. Wherever they find them, they will shoot directly.”
At the very end of the documentary, a slide is shown with a photo of Sheikh Hasina and the caption “Sheikh Hasina | Awami League Party,” stating: “We cannot confirm whether the tape recording referenced by the BBC is authentic, but in any case, it does not demonstrate any unlawful intention on the part of Sheikh Hasina.”
Following this, claims began circulating on social media that the BBC itself admitted in the documentary that it could not verify the authenticity of the call recording attributed to Sheikh Hasina.
Notably, some of these viral claims included screenshots of the same slide from the Bengali-translated version of the documentary, with the translated text reading: “BBC is not sure whether the tape recording (of Sheikh Hasina’s conversation) is real. But under no circumstances does the recording reflect any unlawful intention of Sheikh Hasina.”
Examples of such claims posted on Facebook can be seen here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
Furthermore, a report critical of the BBC’s documentary was shared by Sheikh Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, on his X (formerly Twitter) account. The discussed slide also appears in the replies/retweets of that post, such as seen here (archive).
Fact Check
The Rumor Scanner’s investigation reveals that the comment about being unable to confirm the authenticity of the leaked audio of Sheikh Hasina regarding the shooting directive was not made by the BBC. Rather, as per BBC’s own claim, the comment was made by a spokesperson of the Bangladesh Awami League.
In fact, the BBC states it has independently verified and confirmed the authenticity of the audio recording of Hasina.
As part of the investigation, the July 9 documentary titled “The Battle for Bangladesh: Fall of Sheikh Hasina – BBC World Service Documentaries” from BBC’s YouTube channel was reviewed.
The documentary includes a call recording of Sheikh Hasina. In it, she is heard saying:
“Ami open nirdeshona diye disi. Ekhon lethal weapon (deadly weapons) byabohar korbe. Jekhane pabe, shoja guli korbe.”
At 34 minutes and 40 seconds, three consecutive slides are shown with a picture of Sheikh Hasina and the caption “Sheikh Hasina | Awami League Party.” The first slide begins with:
“An Awami League spokesperson told us…”
It continues:
“The Awami League categorically denies and rejects claims that some of its senior leaders, including the Prime Minister herself. were personally responsible for or directed the use of lethal force against crowds; or were involved in or had knowledge of mistreatment of detainees.”
Although the next two slides no longer include the phrase “An Awami League spokesperson,” they still carry the same image and title “, Sheikh Hasina | Awami League Party,” indicating that the following comments are also part of the Awami League’s official statement. This format was previously used in the documentary to represent statements from the Bangladesh Police.
The third slide in the Awami League’s statement contains the disputed line:
“We cannot confirm whether the tape recording referenced by the BBC is authentic, but in any case, it does not demonstrate any unlawful intention on the part of Sheikh Hasina.”
Furthermore, the BBC’s July 9 article “Ex-Bangladesh leader authorised deadly crackdown, leaked audio suggests” confirms that:
“An Awami League spokesperson said: ‘We cannot confirm whether the tape recording referenced by the BBC is authentic.’”
This makes it even clearer that the statement in question was made by an Awami League spokesperson, not by the BBC itself.
The same article also confirms that BBC independently verified the leaked call recording, finding no evidence of editing or manipulation, and stating that the likelihood of it being artificially generated (synthetic) is extremely low. BBC also noted that the leaked recording appears to have been captured in a room where the phone call was played on speaker, as evident from the clear telephonic frequency and background noise.
In other words, the BBC has confirmed that the leaked call is indeed Sheikh Hasina’s.
Additionally, BBC Bangla published a translated version of the documentary titled “BBC Investigation: 5th August Jatrabari, Sheikh Hasina’s Phone Record” on its YouTube channel on July 9. At 34 minutes and 58 seconds, the same slide in question appears in Bengali, reading:
“BBC is not sure whether the tape recording (of Sheikh Hasina’s conversation) is real. But under no circumstances does the recording reflect any unlawful intention of Sheikh Hasina.”
At the top of the slide, it is clearly labelled:
“Statement from the Bangladesh Awami League.”
This further confirms that the statement was made by the Awami League, not by the BBC.
Conclusion
The statement regarding the BBC being unable to confirm the authenticity of Sheikh Hasina’s leaked audio was made by a spokesperson of the Bangladesh Awami League. Presenting this statement as if it came from the BBC is misleading.
