Far-right spreads false claims about attacks on Muslims in Bangladesh

The videos are shocking: buildings burned, horrific violence and women crying as they begged for help.

Those who shared them said they were evidence of the “Hindu genocide” that followed the sudden fall of Bangladesh’s long-time leader Sheikh Hasina.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, whose given name is Tommy Robinson, is a British far-right activist who has been criticized for inflammatory posts during the UK riots. Get involved, sharing videos with dark warnings.

But we found that many of the videos and claims shared online were false.

Bangladesh has been in the headlines for weeks: student-led protests left more than 400 people dead, eventually leading to the collapse of the government and the flight of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India on August 5.

The celebrations escalated into violent riots, with rioters targeting members of her ruling Awami League party, which is made up of Hindu and Muslim members.

While reports on the ground have found Hindu people and property affected by violence and looting, far-right influencers in neighboring India have shared false videos and information that give a misleading picture of the events.

They claimed to show communal violence against Hindus, allegedly perpetrated by “Islamic militants” with a violent agenda.

A viral post claims to show “Islamists in Bangladesh” setting fire to a temple.

However, BBC verify has established that the building, identified as the Navagraha temple in Chittagong, was not damaged by the incident that actually took place at the nearby Awami League party office.

Images obtained by the BBC after the fire showed fragments of posters bearing the faces of Awami League members.

“On the afternoon of August 5, the Awami League office building behind the temple was attacked,” Swapan Das, a worker at the temple, told BBC verify. “They moved the furniture outside and set it on fire.”

Mr Das added that although the temple was not attacked that day, the situation remained tense and the temple was closed and guarded around the clock.

Far from the only story being shared, most of the stories are under the same hashtag, which has been mentioned nearly 1 million times since August 4, according to social media monitoring tool Brandwatch. Accounts primarily based in India are driving this trend.

Other debunked viral posts include claims that a Bangladeshi Hindu cricketer’s house was burnt down. BBC Verification has confirmed that the house actually belongs to a Muslim MP from the Awami League.

Then there was the burned-down school, which the BBC visited. Again, the reason behind the attack appears to be political rather than religious.

All of these posts were shared by multiple accounts, many of which espoused Hindu nationalist values.

Professor Syed Arzaman, an expert on hate speech and disinformation in Bangladesh, said inter-religious tensions have existed in Bangladesh for decades.

Professor Zaman said things came to a head again after Sheikh Hasina’s hasty departure “because without government and effective law and order, Hindus felt unsafe”.

False narratives make the situation worse. “Fear-mongering by these influential individuals is exacerbating tensions.”

Some of the posts, which falsely claimed Hindus had been targeted by Muslims, were shared by accounts far away from Bangladesh or India.

Tommy Robinson, who has been criticized for posting inflammatory messages about violent riots against Muslims and immigrants across the UK, has been sharing unverified videos from Bangladesh where he says there is “genocide against Hindus” ”.

We looked into a video he shared. It shows a woman pleading for her husband’s life as her home is attacked. The post falsely claimed the property was targeted by “Islamists.” The original footage was released on August 6, the day after the property was attacked.

However, when the BBC investigated the story behind the film, a different story emerged.

A group of local students who assisted the woman in defending her property told us the dispute was something entirely different. They shared photos and videos of the cleanup with the BBC, which show the property seen in the original video. The Hindu temple on the property was not damaged.

“The conflict is about land ownership. A case was opened a long time ago. A case about land ownership has been pending in the local court for nearly six months.

We spoke to others on the ground who told us that the attack was not religiously motivated and that the perpetrators were a mix of Hindus and Muslims. They also reported that other Hindu homes and temples in the area were not affected.

Tommy Robinson did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Figuring out what exactly has been going on in Bengal over the past few weeks has proven difficult.

There are many real incidents and attacks taking place across the country, but the motivation is difficult to assess: religious or political.

The two are closely linked: one Hindu resident explained that minorities are largely seen as supporters of Sheikh Hasina’s secular Awami League party.

AFP Bangladesh fact-checker Qadaruddin Shishir told the BBC that Hindu-owned properties were under attack.

But, he said, “right-wing Indian accounts are spreading these politically motivated attacks as religious attacks.”

The Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council, a non-profit organization set up to protect the human rights of minorities, reported that five Hindus were killed. Two of them have been identified as Awami League members.

According to AFP statistics, the number of Muslim Awami League leaders killed has exceeded 50.

When false news about attacks on Hindus went viral, some Muslim protesters decided to defend Hindu temples.

“It is our duty to protect them,” said Moinul, who was posted last week in front of a temple in Khatarazi, outside Chittagong.

Moinur said the viral posts on social media were trying to “incite conflict between Hindus and Muslims.” “But we won’t be fooled.”

Choton Banik, a local Hindu in the area who visited the temple, asked them to continue their efforts “through this critical moment”.

“I hope we will continue to live together in this independent Bangladesh in the future,” he said.

Additional reporting by Kumar Malhotra and Josh Cheetham