FACT CHECK: Al Jazeera's tweet about Taliban abducting minor girls is morphed
There have been several news reports that the Taliban has asked Afghanistan girls above 15 and widows under 45 to marry its fighters.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 21 Aug 2021 6:15 AM GMT
Hyderabad: There have been several news reports that the Taliban has asked Afghanistan girls above 15 and widows under 45 to marry its fighters.
Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen dismissed these claims and called it baseless and "poisonous propaganda". (Click to read reports by Daily Mail, Times of India and India Today)
Amidst this tension, an image of an alleged tweet by Al Jazeera, a news channel in the Middle East, is viral on social media with the text: "Taliban started abducting minor girls from their home. The parents who are refusing to give their daughters to the Taliban are being killed by the Taliban Fighters."
The alleged tweet also carries a picture of a girl surrounded by Islamist fighters.
FACT CHECK:
The tweet is morphed.
NewsMeter noticed that the name of the Twitter account in the viral screenshot is mentioned as "Al Jajeera'', whereas the correct name of the news agency is "Al Jazeera''. It was also noticed that the account's name on the viral tweet is "Al Jajeera English'' and that the Twitter handle is mentioned as "@AJENews", whereas the correct Twitter account name of the official page is "Al Jazeera English'' and the correct handle is "@AJEnglish". Apart from this Al Jazeera's other Twitter account is named "Al Jazeera Breaking News" and its handle is "@AJENews". As the viral screenshot doesn't have the official names and handles, it is clear that the image is morphed.
NewsMeter also searched online for reports on this tweet but found that neither "Al Jazeera English" nor "Al Jazeera Breaking News" posted any such tweet till the time of filing this story.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image on the viral image attached in the viral image and found the image was taken in 2016 when Afghan artists re-enacted the mob murder of Farkhunda Malikzada. Malikzada, an Afghan woman was beaten to death on March 19, 2015, after being falsely accused of burning a copy of the Quran, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Later a memorial monument was built in her honor at the site of the murder. The image is credited to Associated Press Photographer Rahmat Gul. (Click to read reports by Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, and Courant)
Evidently, it is clear that the viral tweet is morphed. Neither Al Jazeera posted a tweet, neither viral image is recent.
However, it should be kept in mind that there are several reports of Taliban fighters forcibly kidnapping and marrying teenage girls and that the situation for women is miserable in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. (Click here to read report by New York Post)
