A popular Islamic preacher in Bangladesh, who claimed in particular that Israel was using Covid vaccines to inoculate microchips for espionage purposes, was sentenced on Monday January 16 to 15 months in prison for his controversial sermons.
Kazi Ibrahim, 62, the head cleric of a mosque in downtown Dhaka, used his platform to spread false information about the coronavirus. He pleaded guilty and a court sentenced him on Monday to 15 months in prison, a sentence that has already been almost served, prosecutor Nazrul Islam told AFP.
SEE ALSO – Dépakine: Sanofi condemned for lack of information on the leaflet
One arrest in 2021
Kazi Ibrahim had been arrested in late 2021 under Bangladesh’s Digital Security Act for religious proselytizing, but police have not publicly revealed what he was charged with. Several of his sermons circulated widely online at the height of the pandemic, including one in which he claimed to have found a mathematical formula for making a homemade vaccine.
Read alsoShould it be compulsory to vaccinate caregivers against the flu, as for Covid-19?
He had falsely claimed that then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had announced that women in his country had started to wear beards and men had started speaking in effeminate voices after being vaccinated . The preacher also claimed that Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and philanthropist, had partnered with the Israeli government to inoculate Bangladeshis with the Covid vaccine, for social control purposes.