Following the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan and Taliban seizing control of the country, mis/disinformation around the political crisis has gone through the roof. Our team has been debunking all the viral claims to ensure that what you read is the truth.
1. Woman Pilot Stoned to Death in Afghanistan? No, This Image Is Old
A distressing photo of a woman, identified as 'Safiya Firozi', covered in blood is going viral across social media platforms to claim that she is an Afghan Air Force pilot who was 'stoned to death this morning' when the Taliban had taken control of Afghanistan.
The photo is from an incident in 2015 when a 27-year-old woman named Farkhunda was lynched by a mob after she was falsely accused of burning pages from Islam's holy book, the Quran.
(Photo: The Quint)
We found that the photo was from an incident in 2015 when a 27-year-old woman named Farkhunda was lynched by a mob after she was falsely accused of burning pages from Islam's holy book, the Quran.
Read our fact-check here.
2. Video of an Old Demonstration Shared as 'Live Situation' in Afghanistan
A video of a group of armed men shooting at a passing vehicle and pulling out corpses from it is being circulated as 'live situation' in Afghanistan.
In the video, chants of 'Allahu Akbar’ (god is great) can be heard over a speaker system as more civilians are frisked, threatened, and made to kneel in the middle of a road before being executed.
The video is being shared with a false narrative that it shows the 'current situation' in Afghanistan.
(Photo: The Quint)
3. Image From 2013 Shared as IAF Airlifting 800 People From Kabul Amid Crisis
A photo of passengers sitting in a military cargo plane is being shared with the claim that it showed the Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 evacuating 800 people from Kabul, and that it had set a record compared to the previous record of carrying 670 people.
The photo was also shared in the context of the US Air Force's C-17 as well.
The claim said that IAF C-17 had created a record by airlifting 800 people.
(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)
However, we found that the photo is from 2013, when following Super Typhoon Haiyan that had hit Philippines in November 2013, the United States Air Force had evacuated more than 680 Tacloban residents to Manila, taking them on a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.
Read our fact-check here.
4. Video of Street Play in London Shared as 'Women Being Auctioned in Afghanistan'
A disturbing footage showing men auctioning off women on a street corner has been shared with a claim that it shows the Taliban selling women in Afghanistan.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Photo: Facebook/Screenshot)
However, we found that the video was neither recent nor from Afghanistan. The video showed a street play by a Kurdish diaspora group called 'Compassion 4 Kurdistan' that took place in London in 2014 to raise awareness of the crimes committed by terror group ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
Read our fact-check here.
5.Old Clip From Syria Shared as 'Woman Executed in Afghanistan by Taliban'
An distressing video of a burqa-clad woman being publicly executed is being shared as the Taliban executing her in Afghanistan for not using a veil.
The video was shared as a recent one from Afghanistan.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
However, we found that the video dates back to 2015 and shows a militant group with ties to Al Qaeda. The armed men surround the woman, who was accused of adultery, before executing her.
One report said that the incident took place at the city of Idlib in Syria.
Read our fact-check here.
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