Viral photo of police crying near BCL leader Saddam AI-generated: Rumor Scanner

Rumor Scanner has revealed that a widely circulated photo showing several police officers hiding their tears beside Jewel Hasan Saddam, president of Bagerhat’s Sadar upazila unit of the banned student organisation Chhatra League, was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

What the claim said

Saddam’s wife, Kaniz Subarna Swarnali, 22, and their nine-month-old child died in a Bagerhat village recently while he was in Jashore Jail. Authorities allowed Saddam to see them for the last time, and the bodies were brought to the jail gate. The incident sparked considerable discussion and criticism on social media.

In this context, the photo portraying police officers in tears beside Saddam was shared from multiple accounts, with claims that it was genuine.

What the fact-check found

Rumor Scanner’s investigation confirmed that the photo was not authentic. Instead, it was created using artificial intelligence by manipulating a different image of Saddam.

The team reported that no other footage or visuals of such a situation were found. To verify the claim, several content detection tools -- including Hive Detect and Deepfake-o-meter -- were used. Results indicated with high probability that the image was AI-generated.