Video of Awami League leader Shahidul Islam Hiran’s dead body hanging from a statue is being shared with a false communal narrative
Amid the ongoing violent protests in Bangladesh, which led to the resignation of Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina (here, here), a disturbing video is being widely shared across social media platforms (here, here, here, & here). The video shows a dead and disfigured man tied to a structure while the mob shouts slogans of “Allah-Hu-Akbar.” It is claimed that the video shows a Muslim mob attacking and killing a Hindu man in Bangladesh. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing a Muslim mob lynching and killing a Hindu man in public in Bangladesh.
Fact: The video does not show a Hindu man being hung by a mob in Bangladesh. Instead, it shows dead body of Shahidul Islam Hiran, the Chairman of the Porahati Union and General Secretary of the Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila Awami League, hanging from a statue. According to reports, on 05 August 2024, following Bangladesh’s PM Hasina’s resignation, a vengeful mob assaulted Shahidul Islam Hiran and killed him. Later, his body was hung from a sculpture at Paira Chattar in the Jhenaidah city center. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Bangladesh has been witnessing deadly protests that began in July 2024 as an anti-quota movement. Recently, these mass protests have evolved into a major anti-government uprising. The situation escalated when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country. Protesters forcefully entered her official residence in Dhaka, looting and vandalizing the premises (here, here).
Reports indicate that mobs have attacked the homes and businesses of minorities, particularly Hindus, looting their valuables (here). There are also reports of Hindu homes and temples being vandalized and set on fire (here). Additionally, some unverified claims suggest that protesters are kidnapping women (here).
To check the veracity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search in Bengali. This search led us to a news report dated 06 August 2024, published by the Bangladeshi media outlet Daily Star. According to the article, Mir Abdur Rahman, an assistant superintendent of police in Jhenidah, said, “In Jhenaidah, Porahati Union Parishad Chairman Hiran and his driver Asad were beaten to death. Later, the bodies were hung from a sculpture at Paira Chattar.” The article also covered more about the attacks and clashes outside the capital city of Dhaka on 05 August 2024. As per the report, soon after the news of Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and her fleeing circulated, mobs attacked Awami League leaders, and their associates, and vandalized their properties, residences, and offices.
Based on this information, we conducted a relevant keyword search and found multiple reports by Bangladeshi media outlets (here, here, & here). According to these reports, following Hasina’s resignation, protesters attacked several Awami League leaders. A vengeful mob assaulted Shahidul Islam Hiran (75), the Chairman of the Porahati Union and General Secretary of the Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila Awami League, and killed him. Jhenaidah is a city in the Khulna Division of southwestern Bangladesh.
The reports further stated that on 05 August 2024, a mob vandalized Hiron’s house in Stadiumpara in Jhenaidah City. During the process, Hiran fired at the crowd, injuring several people. The angry mob then set fire to his house. Hiran, who was stuck on the third floor, died in the fire. The enraged mob broke into his home, took out his body, and hung it in Paira Chattar in the center of the city, where several members of the mob attacked his corpse. The official website of the Porahati Union also lists its chairman as Shahidul Islam Hiran.
Further search led us to multiple videos (here, here) posted on YouTube that contained similar visuals as in the viral video. These videos also identified the deceased man as Hiran and stated that he had been burned to death, brought to Paira Chattar in the Jhenaidah city center, and hanged there.
We then geolocated Paira Chattar in the Jhenaidah city center on Google Maps, where Hiran’s body was hung. The place gets its name from a statue of a pigeon (Paira in Bengali). In the viral video, the foot of the statue is visible. A comparison of the viral video with the YouTube video indicates that both visuals show the same incident. Below is a comparison between a photo from Google Street View, a keyframe from the YouTube video, and a key frame from the viral video.
To sum up, the video does not show a Hindu man being hung by a mob in Bangladesh. Instead, it features Shahidul Islam Hiran, the Chairman of the Porahati Union and General Secretary of the Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila Awami League, who was burned and hanged.