On August 5, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country following widespread protests led by students and citizens that ousted her from power. Recently, a video went viral on TikTok, claiming that a Swiss court had declared Sheikh Hasina as the legitimate Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The video features an image of two individuals seated side by side while signing a document.

The video can be seen here (archived link).

As of the time of writing this report, the video has been viewed over 660,000 times on TikTok. It has also received reactions from more than 32,000 separate accounts and has been shared over 600 times.

Fact Check

An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team revealed that the claim of a Swiss court declaring Sheikh Hasina legitimate is entirely false. The viral image actually depicts the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing visa-free travel between Guyana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Upon investigation, the image in question was found on the Guyanese media outlet Guyana Chronicle’s website in an article published on September 27 titled, “Guyana, UAE sign MoU for visa-free travel.”

The photo’s caption identifies the individuals as Hugh Todd, Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Reem Al Hashimy, UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, during the MoU signing.

The article further details that the MoU was signed to establish visa-free travel between Guyana and the UAE. This agreement took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Additionally, a relevant keyword search to verify whether a Swiss court had declared Sheikh Hasina legitimate yielded no results. No domestic or international media outlets have reported such a claim, which would have been widely covered had it been true.

Conclusion

The claim that a Swiss court declared Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, as legitimate is entirely false. The image referenced in the claim is unrelated and actually depicts the signing of a visa-free travel agreement between Guyana and the UAE.

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