Old Sri Lankan visual passed off as from Bangladesh after Hasina fled the country; Fact Check

Posted by: Sridevi P August 6, 2024

Soon after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country and reached Ghaziabad airbase in neighbouring India, several images and videos of protesters reaching her residence and indulging in vandalism surfaced on social media.

Hasina bowed out of her office on August 5, 2024, after the country witnessed a series of anti-government protests by students demanding her resignation. She reached the airbase in India and is currently staying there. In this context, the following claims have appeared on social media linking to vandalism in Dhaka.

A similar claim has been made here and here on X.

FACT-CHECK

When a request to fact-check these images was received on the Digiteye India WhatsApp tipline, we took it up and checked them individually on Google Reverse Image Search. While some of them are real pictures, others were from the uprise in Sri Lanka in July 2022 when anti-government protesters stormed the Sri Lankan president’s residence.

Hence, the image showing three men relaxing on a bed with the caption, “Scenes from Shiekh Hasina’s bedroom” is not from Dhaka but from Colombo in July 2022 when anti-government protesters stormed then Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s palace.

Claim: Three men relaxing on bed at PM Hasina’s palace in Bangladesh after she fled the country.

Conclusion: Misrepresentation — Old image from 2022 Sri Lankan uprise was used to pass off as vandalism in Dhaka.

Rating: Misrepresentation —

About Sridevi P

Sridevi, a business management graduate from Osmania University, Hyderabad has contributed fact-checks whenever she found time. She can be reached at psridevi@digiteye.in

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