Fact Check: German ISKCON priest lynched in Bangladesh? No, video shows murder of Awami League leader
A disturbing video of a person being killed by a mob has gone viral with the claim that it shows a German ISKCON priest being lynched.
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 12 Dec 2024 2:16 PM GMT
Claim: The video shows a German ISKCON pujari being hanged in public in Bangladesh.
Fact: The claim is false. The video shows the brutal murder of Shahidul Islam Hiron, an Awami League leader.
(Content Warning: The article contains extremely graphic visuals, which some readers may find distressing; reader discretion is advised. We have chosen not to include the link to the post in this story due to its sensitive nature, to respect privacy and avoid further dissemination of potentially harmful content.)
Hyderabad: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) alleged last week that one of its temples and a centre in Bangladesh were destroyed after being set on fire by unidentified persons. ISKCON has claimed that many of its institutions were being forcibly shut down in Bangladesh.
Against this backdrop, a 38-second video has gone viral with the claim that a German ISKCON pujari (priest), āwho dedicated his life to feeding thousands, was tied, set ablaze and brutally attacked with sticks and hammers.ā The video, shared by an X user, shows a burnt body being attacked with a hammer while slogans of āAllahu Akbarā can be heard in the background.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video shows the public murder of Shahidul Islam Hiron, an Awami League leader in Bangladesh.
Through a keyword search, we found multiple reports of public violence against individuals in Bangladesh following the resignation of Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina this year. One of them was a Bangla news report titled āAngry mob hangs body of AL leader in Jhenaidah,ā published on August 6, 2024.
The report included a screenshot of a similar photo showing a hanged body, along with a photograph of Shahidul Islam Hiron.
According to the report, Shahidul Islam Hiron (75), general secretary of Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila Awami League and chairman of the local Porahati Union, was killed by an angry mob. The mob killed the AL leader and set fire to his house in Stadiumpara, Jhenaidah town in Bangladesh. They later took his body to Payra Chattar, where it was hanged and burned.
Searching the web using the information we gathered so far, we found a YouTube video that contained visuals similar to the viral footage.
The video, titled āAwami League Leader Hiron Chairman Killed in Jhenaidah // People Have Kept Him in Jhunjhunu,ā was posted on August 5, 2024. Starting at the 0:45-second mark, the video shows visuals resembling those in the viral footage.
We also compared the location in the viral video with visuals of Payra Chattar (where Hironās body was hung) on Google Maps and confirmed that both show the same place.
Also, there were no credible reports of a German ISKCON priest being killed in Bangladesh. Furthermore, the same visuals of Shahidul Islam Hironās murder were previously shared with false communal narratives.
Therefore, the claim that a German ISKCON pujari was killed by a mob in Bangladesh is false. The viral video is an old recording of the murder of Shahidul Islam Hiron, an Awami League leader, and has no connection to ISKCON or its members.
