2015 execution footage from Mecca falsely shared as recent execution of Bangladeshi couple
2015 execution footage from Mecca falsely shared as recent execution of Bangladeshi couple
Executive Summaryसारांश
A video of a public execution on a street is being shared as the October 2026 execution of a Bangladeshi man and woman in Mecca. Fact-checkers traced the footage to January 2015, when it was reported by Pakistan’s Dawn and by AP through The Times of Israel. It shows the execution of a Burmese woman, not the Bangladeshi nationals.A video of a public execution on a street is being shared as the October 2026 execution of a Bangladeshi man and woman in Mecca. Fact-checkers traced the footage to January 2015, when it was reported by Pakistan’s Dawn and by AP through The Times of Israel. It shows the execution of a Burmese woman, not the Bangladeshi nationals.
Full Reportपूरी रिपोर्ट
Fact-checkers have found that the execution footage circulating with the recent Saudi case is more than eleven years old. A January 27, 2015 column in Dawn reported that the video showed the execution in Makkah of a Burmese woman, Laila Bin Abdul Muttalib Basim, who had been convicted of murdering and abusing her husband’s seven-year-old daughter. An AP report published by The Times of Israel on August 25, 2015, used a still from the same footage, dated January 17, 2015, in a story about Saudi Arabia carrying out at least 175 executions in a year. The two Bangladeshi nationals were executed in Mecca on October 14, 2026, after being convicted of an “indecent act” inside a mosque, according to Saudi authorities quoted by the BBC and The Daily Star. No footage of that execution has been made public. Reusing graphic old footage to illustrate a new case misleads viewers and spreads distressing content, so such videos should not be shared.
Fact-checkers have found that the execution footage circulating with the recent Saudi case is more than eleven years old. A January 27, 2015 column in Dawn reported that the video showed the execution in Makkah of a Burmese woman, Laila Bin Abdul Muttalib Basim, who had been convicted of murdering and abusing her husband’s seven-year-old daughter. An AP report published by The Times of Israel on August 25, 2015, used a still from the same footage, dated January 17, 2015, in a story about Saudi Arabia carrying out at least 175 executions in a year. The two Bangladeshi nationals were executed in Mecca on October 14, 2026, after being convicted of an “indecent act” inside a mosque, according to Saudi authorities quoted by the BBC and The Daily Star. No footage of that execution has been made public. Reusing graphic old footage to illustrate a new case misleads viewers and spreads distressing content, so such videos should not be shared.