Fake photos trolling

Remember Jamphel Yeshi?

The Tibetan activist set himself on fire and ran through a demonstration in New Delhi ahead of the Chinese president's visit to India on March 26, 2012.

The photo of the 27-year-old man engulfed in flames was published in the media worldwide.

Recently, some people have posted the image in social media, describing it as a scene of ongoing atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine State. 

Even a national Bangla daily published the photo along with some other images under the headline "Indiscriminate rape, killing". The pro-government newspaper wrote "collected" as the source of the photographs.

The latest wave of persecution of Rohingyas has put a severe strain on Dhaka as hundreds of them are trying to cross the border into Bangladesh, fleeing the military crackdown in Rakhine.

Myanmar has launched "counterterrorism operations" in the area responding to attacks on three border posts on October 9 that killed nine police officers.

The government and the army deny atrocities but residents and rights activists accuse troops of raping Rohingya women, killing men and torching houses.

Up to 30,000 members of the ethnic minority have fled homes, the UN says, amid violence that is most serious since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in Rakhine in 2012.

Amid worldwide condemnations over the Myanmar government's action, a group of people are sharing fake photos with misleading captions on Facebook and Twitter. Some Bangladeshi newspapers have also published such fake and unverified photos.

And some people are sharing those without knowing that they are not authentic.

Leaders of minority communities say this online campaign using false information could be aimed at inciting communal tensions in Bangladesh.

"Centring the Rohingya issue, numerous misleading posts and photos, seemingly to incite communal tensions, have been uploaded in social sites. We are very much worried about recurrence of any incident like the one in Ramu," said Prof Ashim Ranjan Barua, president of Bangladesh Buddhist Federation.

He said the Buddhists, mostly living in the bordering areas like Ramu and Ukhia, fear backlash over the Rakhine issue.

In 2012, Muslim zealots destroyed more than a dozen Buddhist monasteries in Ramu after a hate campaign was launched by using an "anti-Islam" photo on a photoshopped Facebook account of a Buddhist youth.

Talking to these correspondents, some journalists said this type of campaign overshadows the real plight of the community and the crisis that has its root in Myanmar.

Instead of sharing or uploading misleading info and photos, people should call upon the international community to put pressure on Myanmar to stop the atrocities and find a peaceful and permanent solution to the long-standing problem, they added.

At present, 31,759 registered Rohingyas stay in two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar.

But sources, citing a government census held from February 1 to 23, say that about three lakh other Rohingyas are living illegally in the district. Many including locals believe the figure would be as many as five lakh.

TRUE & FALSE

There is a Facebook page titled "Stop Killing Muslim in Burma: Today in Burma, tomorrow in Bangladesh and one day in the entire world". One of the photos posted in the page on November 20 shows some Buddhist monks standing among piles of dead bodies.

This photo, uploaded in some other pages as well, was shown as "an example of Buddhist violence against Rohingyas".

However, the picture is not of any incident in Myanmar at all. It was taken in the aftermath of an earthquake in China in April 2010.

The Tibetan monks were preparing for mass cremation of earthquake victims on a mountaintop in Yushu county of Qinghai province, China. It received second prize singles (General News) in World Press Photo Contest, 2011.

More interestingly, a clip of fifth part of Hollywood's Rambo film series "Last Blood" is hovering in Facebook with texts in Bangla -- "Video of torture on Rohingyas: share it with everyone" and "Hefajat-e Islam".

Hefajat, a Qawmi madrasa-based organisation, denies any link with the video.

A Facebook user on November 20 shared a disturbing video of a girl in flames, and described it as an incident in Myanmar. Writing a caption, "Stop Killing Burma Muslims", the user requested people of Bangladesh to share the video.

It's virtually an incident in Guatemala.

A 16-year-old girl was beaten and burned to death by a lynch mob in May 2015. Several international media outlets, including CNN, The Independent and Daily Mail, reported it along with photograph and video.

A Facebook page named "Stop Muslim Genocide in Burma" on October 16 shared several photos including the one in which a woman is lying on the ground with hands and legs tied with ropes.

This photo was uploaded by Bangladesh's news portal Bangla Tribune on August 30 with a story. The headline was "Annie is now in hospital in critical condition after enduring torture in her in-law's house."

Some Facebook users shared a widely circulated photograph showing a motorbike riding across the hands of school students lying on the ground with outstretched arms.

They described it as an image of torture on Rohingyas.

The photo was actually a stunt by a martial arts trainer in south India. The BBC Trending on June 6, 2015 in a story headlined "The fake pictures of the Rohingya crisis" made mention of this photo.

Besides, three photos were uploaded in a page named "Stop Killing Muslim in Burma" with extreme hate speech against Buddhists.

A pro-Jamaat newspaper published an AFP photo on its fifth page on November 20.

As its caption, AFP wrote: "This handout photograph was released by the Myanmar Armed Forces on November 18, 2016, with information stating that Myanmar soldiers are putting out a fire in Wapeik village located in Maungdaw in Rakhine State near the Bangladesh border on November 13, after attackers allegedly set fire to 80 houses ..."

But the Bangladeshi newspaper wrote in the caption: "Myanmar army is setting fire to the houses of Rohingyas in Rakhine state". However, the photo credit was given to AFP.

WHO ARE DOING THESE?

Julfikar Ali Manik, an investigative journalist who has long experience of working on issues relating to Rohingya crisis, militancy and war crimes, said a group of Rohingyas is carrying out a widespread propaganda by using fake photos in an organised and planned way. 

He said networks of several Bangladeshi mobile phone operators are available in parts of Rakhine's Maungdaw, and many Rohingyas over mobile phones send fake photos to the Rohingyas staying in Bangladesh and Bangladeshis acquainted to them.

"When someone sends such a [fake] photo from Myanmar, saying that such an incident has taken place there, people start to believe it. And then Rohingyas and locals in Cox's Bazar spread it considering the photo credible," he said.

Those people use propaganda to draw sympathy of the global community as well as the people of Bangladesh. Their sympathisers in Middle-Eastern and some other countries support their online campaigns.

"They often use Islam as their tool," said Manik, who also contributes to The New York Times.

He added that several Rohingya insurgent organisations active in Myanmar have long been connected with militant organisations like JMB and Huji in Bangladesh, and these local outfits play a vital role in the propaganda.

A senior reporter of The Daily Star now covering the Rohingya issue in Teknaf found several locals who saw these photos in Facebook. 

Maulavi Faridul Alam from Jhimongkhali village said he was very upset when he saw the pictures. Asked if he knows there are many fake photos among those, Faridul, who is in his mid 50s, said he believes many of them are genuine.

A carpenter named Russell showed a number of photos to the reporter, saying, "Look how they are torturing [Rohingyas]. The correspondent could identify some of those images that are not linked to Myanmar or Rohingyas.   

Polash Datta, a journalist who runs polashdatta.com that monitors mainstream and social media contents, said these same photographs are used whenever a major communal attack involving Muslims takes place anywhere in the world.

However, posting of fake photographs over Rohingya crisis this time has exceeded what was done in the past, said Polash, who also works on data journalism. 

Asked about what the authorities could do, he said blocking the sites or removing those posts or photos won't be very effective, because if one site is blocked, they create another. So the government should launch counter propaganda against these elements, he added.

NOT NEW

Inciting communal violence using social media is not something new in Bangladesh.

Take Ramu incident as an example.

The zealots in a planned way spread the photoshopped image through Bluetooth or picture message services from mobile phones in September 2012.

Months before the attack, fake photos with misleading captions of atrocities against Rohingyas were seen in the social media. Following a communal violence in June 2012, a huge number of Rohingyas attempted to enter Bangladesh fleeing persecution in Myanmar.

The Rohingya insurgent groups in Rakhine were suspected of being among the planners of the Ramu mayhem, The Daily Star learnt at that time.

The Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) tops the list of suspects as it participated in attacks on Buddhist temples and houses on the night of September 29 in 2012, according to a person who has close relations with some RSO leaders and activists.

During the war crimes trial of top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders in 2012 and 2013, a massive online campaign was launched against the long-cherished trial often by using fake photographs and misleading information.

Pro-Jamaat Facebook page Basherkella played a vital role in that campaign, also backed by some right-wing newspapers.

Some of those newspapers published the photo of a ceremony of changing the Gilaf (cover) of Holy Kaaba in Makkah with misleading captions. A report described the ceremony as "a human chain led by the khatib of Holy Kaaba protesting the war crimes trial in Bangladesh."

CONCERN

Bangladesh Buddhist Federation President Prof Ashim Ranjan Barua said, "We're very concerned over the situation."

The Federation discussed the issues of fake posts in social media at a meeting on Tuesday. They have already conveyed their concerns to the Police Headquarters. Officials assured them that law enforcers are alert, he added.

Eminent historian Prof Muntasir Mamoon, however, said some fake photos might have been circulated over the Rohingya issue but it cannot be denied that Rohingyas are being persecuted in Myanmar.

"It is true that the villages are being razed," he said.

Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad, said they have seen in the past that a communal force attempts to attack minorities here following any communal violence in neighbouring countries.

Replying to another query, Rana said he fears that communal attacks might take place centring on the Rohingya issue.

A journalist of this newspaper yesterday visited a Buddhist-dominated village in Hnila union of Teknaf. There is a sense of insecurity among the residents there.  

Contacted, AKM Shahidur Rahman, deputy inspector general (media and planning) of police, said they are looking into the online propaganda.

"We usually take necessary action whenever we receive any specific allegation," he added.