Fact-Check: This Man Being Welcomed by People Is Not Brighton & Hove Mayor

The man seen in the video was identified as one 'Sufi Muhammad Asghar'.

Fact-Check | The video is being shared with users misidentifying as one 'Sufi Muhammad Asghar'. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video of a man being welcomed by several people wearing skull caps is going viral on social media platforms with users claiming that it shows the new Mayor of Brighton, United Kingdom.

What do viral posts say?: An X (formerly Twitter) premium handle shared the video with a claim that said, "The absolute state of England. This is the new mayor of Brighton."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X /Screenshot)

When this report was being written, the viral post had garnered over a lakh views on the platform. (Archives of similar claims can be viewed here, here, and here.)

What is the truth?: The viral claim is misleading as the man seen in the video was identified as one 'Sheikh Sufi Muhammad Asghar'.

• It should be noted that one Mohammed Asaduzzaman was elected the first Muslim mayor of Brighton and Hove.

What led us to the truth?: Using the help of Google Lens, we performed a reverse image search and found a video that showed similar visuals of a man wearing the same attire.

• The clip was uploaded on 27 May on an unverified YouTube channel named 'Aslamiya Foundation'.

• It was titled, "Sheikh visit to friends house #family #mashallah #muslim."

• We noticed several social media account links posted on the YouTube account's bio.

A screenshot of the YouTube account's bio.

(Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

Finding the longer version of the clip: Team WebQoof went through these social media accounts and found the same visuals uploaded on TikTok, which we accessed using the help of a VPN.

• Its caption said, "Students welcome teacher to Muslim community event #love #muslim #brothers #respect #sheikh #fyp in 🕌 Mosque Centre in Bedford..."

The video was uploaded on 6 June.

(Source: TikTok/Screenshot)

Identifying the person in the viral video: Further, we came across a video on the same YouTube channel which showed the same person being welcomed by people.

• The video's title identified the person as 'Sheikh Sufi Muhammad Asghar'.

New Mayor of Brighton and Hove: As per a report published by BBC, Mohammed Asaduzzaman became the first ever South Asian Muslim mayor to be elected in Brighton and Hove.

• The councillors had unanimously elected Asaduzzaman.

• He had previously worked with the state minister for irrigation and water development in Bangladesh.

The report was published on 17 May.

(Source: BBC/Screenshot)

Conclusion: The man in the viral video was misidentified as Brighton and Hove's Mayor Mohammed Asaduzzaman.

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