A video of a group of men bearing guns shooting down a woman has been shared on social media with the claim that the incident is from Afghanistan. The video is circulating against the backdrop of the Taliban’s takeover of the country.
BJP member Rishikesh K Shukla was among those who shared the video.
It has been shared by several people.
The video is circulating in multiple languages, including Italian and Spanish.
Volete veramente aiutare sta gente? Io non credo lo voglia#Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/Klv6dRnezY
— Paolo🌞 (@SolariPaolo) August 16, 2021
Alt News has received multiple requests on its WhatsApp helpline number (76000 11160) to verify the video.
2015 video from Syria
“A militant group with ties to al Qaeda reportedly executed a woman in a northwestern Syrian town after accusing her of committing adultery, rights groups reported this week,” according to a Vice article from 2015. The execution was carried out by suspected masked members of al Nusra Front, the Syrian arm of al Qaeda.
The video was reported by several other media outlets including The Independent and Reuters.
However, women face similar treatment under the Taliban rule. “Under their rule, women had to cover themselves and only leave the house in the company of a male relative. The Taliban also banned girls from attending school, and women from working outside the home. They were also banned from voting. Women were subject to cruel punishments for disobeying these rules, including being beaten and flogged, and stoned to death if found guilty of adultery. Afghanistan had the highest maternal mortality rate in the world,” said an article in The Conversation.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said after the Taliban’s takeover, “We are receiving chilling reports of severe restrictions on human rights throughout the country. I am particularly concerned by accounts of mounting human rights violations against the women and girls of Afghanistan.”
In sum, a video from 2015 shot in Syria is falsely viral as public execution of a woman in Afghanistan.
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.
