
The claim that the Finnish government has imposed sanctions on Dr. Muhammad Yunus, head adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government, for allegedly failing to honor the country’s freedom fighters has been widely circulated on Facebook through a post from an account named Tamanna Akhter Yesman. The post also states that the sanctions were imposed under Article 347 of the Constitution of Bangladesh and identifies Finland’s current president as one Barthele Farber.
Fact-checking by the Rumor Scanner team reveals that the claim about Finland sanctioning Dr. Muhammad Yunus over the treatment of freedom fighters is false. Furthermore, there is no Article 347 in the Constitution of Bangladesh, and Finland’s current president is not Barthele Farber but Alexander Stubb. The image used in the circulated post is an old photograph showing Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates, meeting with Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmytro Senik.
A reverse image search traced the photo back to a tweet published by the official Twitter (now X) account of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 6, 2022. Upon examination, it is evident that the image used in the claim is identical to that photo. The original caption identifies the individuals as Reem Al Hashimy and Dmytro Senik, and confirms that the photo was taken during a meeting between the two governments at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss Ukraine’s reconstruction and humanitarian needs during the ongoing conflict. Thus, the image has no connection to Dr. Muhammad Yunus or the government of Finland.
Subsequent keyword searches in international and Bangladeshi media yielded no reports of Finland imposing sanctions on Dr. Muhammad Yunus over alleged dishonor toward freedom fighters. On the contrary, records show that Dr. Yunus held a bilateral meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on January 21 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Moreover, no record of a Finnish president named Barthele Farber was found on Finland’s official presidential website.
Finally, an investigation into the claimed Article 347 of the Constitution of Bangladesh confirms that the Constitution consists of a total of 153 articles divided into 11 parts, and no Article 347 exists.
Therefore, the claim that the Finnish government has imposed sanctions on Dr. Muhammad Yunus is false.
Source: https://rumorscanner.com/fact-check/fake-photo-finland-sanction-claim-muhammad-yunus/154704