Dhaka, Dec 14 (V7N) – Advocate Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Senior Joint Secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), issued a public apology on Saturday for unintentionally disseminating false information regarding the recent attack on Dhaka-8 parliamentary aspirant Sharif Osman Hadi. Rizvi made the statement through the BNP’s verified Facebook page.
In his statement, Rizvi clarified that two viral claims circulating on social media were unfounded. One involved a doctored image of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s remarks allegedly broadcast using the RTV logo, and the other depicted a suspected assailant of Osman Hadi having tea with Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) Vice President Sadiq Kayeem. Both claims, he noted, were AI-generated and baseless.
Rizvi admitted that during a BNP rally at the central office in Noapaltan earlier on Saturday afternoon, he referred to these unverified claims without fact-checking and expressed sincere regret for the unintentional error.
Sadiq Kayeem had earlier publicly demanded an apology, stating that Rizvi’s claim that he was drinking tea with a suspect involved in the attack on Osman Hadi was false and based on fabricated images. Kayeem urged BNP and Rizvi to formally acknowledge the mistake and retract the statement.
The attack on Osman Hadi occurred on Friday afternoon in Bijoynagar, Dhaka, when unidentified assailants shot him. He was initially taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and later transferred to Evercare Hospital for further treatment, where he remains under medical care.
Rizvi’s apology aims to correct misinformation and reaffirm the importance of verifying facts before public statements, especially in politically sensitive situations.
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