Busting the top 3 fake news of the week

Report about a Dutch filmmaker's conversion to Islam is misleading

A news article on the daily Inqilab claimed on December 17 that Dutch filmmaker Arnoud van Doorn, who made a film ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), had embraced Islam. According to the report, the filmmaker accused 'Israeli and American lobby for provoking him to make the Islamophobic film. However, BD FactCheck found the news report titled "Filmmaker who made film insulting Prophet Muhammad embraced Islam" misleading as it was an old news reproduced without any context and explanation. The original news was of his conversation published in 2013 on many middle eastern and some western outlets. BD FactCheck found a tweet from the verified twitter handle of Arnoud van Doorn, dated on February 27, 2013, posted with Arabic text of 'Kalimah Shahadah' which is considered as his first public testimony to embrace Islam. Reproducing a seven years old news story, by a media outlet, without giving any additional context is clearly misleading. 

BD FactCheck post:

https://www.facebook.com/bdfactcheck/posts/1225144057886587

Doctored Photo of MP Mamtaz gone viral with false claim

A photo of renowned singer and lawmaker Mamtaz Begum has been circulated through various Facebook pages and profiles where she was seen being adorned with a badge by two army officials. Various captions were attached with the photograph with a common claim that Mamtaz was awarded with the badge 'Major General' as a symbol of honor.  As the photo garnered huge attention and many were being misled by it, BD FactCheck published a story proving the photo was doctored and thus all claims with it are false. 

The original photo was of Susane Giti, the first female Major General ranked officer of Bangladesh Army. A number of national and international media outlets published it on October 1, 2018. The two officials who were seen adorning Giti with the badge are Army chief General Aziz Ahmed and Quartermaster General Lieutenant General Md Shamsul Haque. Giti's face was edited to replace Mamtaz's to establish the false claim.

BD FactCheck post:

https://www.facebook.com/bdfactcheck/posts/1226484271085899

Ambigious information about the new variant of Covid-19 found in Britain

A viral post in social media claimed that a 'new virus' in Britain, reportedly a mutated version of SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19, was detected and that is more deadly than the existing SARS-CoV-2 virus. It was also asserted that the vaccines proved effective and currently in waiting to be used for Covid-19 are not compatible for the mutated virus. But BD FactCheck found both the claims were false. There was a link to a news story of CBC attached in the viral post as reference. However, the CBC news story says the opposite to what the Facebook post claimed. British prime minister Boris Johnson was quoted in the news as saying, ''There's no evidence to suggest it (the mutated version of the virus) is more lethal or causes more severe illness or that vaccines will be less effective against it.'' BBC also reported quoting experts that the new strain is more transmissible but there is still no evidence of it being more deadly or the vaccines are ineffective against it.

BD FactCheck post:

https://www.facebook.com/bdfactcheck/posts/1227138137687179