Video from Colombia protest passed off as Christians in Afghanistan being suffocated to death
A video of people wrapped in plastic bags is viral on social media with the claim that Christians in Afghanistan who refused to abandon their faith were left to die of suffocation by the Taliban.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 19 Sep 2021 4:40 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of people wrapped in plastic bags is viral on social media with the claim that Christians in Afghanistan who refused to abandon their faith were left to die of suffocation by the Taliban.
The video was shared with the caption, "Christians wrapped in nylon bags to die slowly of suffocation in Afghanistan for refusing to deny Christ. Please, let's pray for them." The link to the post can be seen here.
Click here to watch the video.
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
A keyword search led NewsMeter to a Facebook Live video of a protest. The caption in Spanish translated to, "Performance "Empaquetados" at Poblado Park on May 26, 2021. A tribute to the people who have been found dead in recent days, drowned, in pieces and in bags. In honour of all those who left their homes to fight for their rights and could not return home."
We performed a reverse image search and found the longer version of the video on YouTube. As per the description, the video shows a protest titled "Empaquetados" which was staged at Poblado Park on 26 May 2021 in Colombia's Medellin.
ADN Medellin had covered the protest in its 27 May edition.
The protest initially started as an agitation against a proposed tax hike by the Colombian government.
We also found that fact-checking website Maldita.es had earlier debunked the claim.
Hence, the claim that the video shows Christians in Afghanistan wrapped in nylon bags and suffocating to death for refusing to abandon their faith is false.
