Fact Check: Were Afghanistan’s women chained and taken on streets?
New Delhi: A photo has been shared on social media where three burqa-clad women in Afghanistan are chained to one another and is being led by a man.
News Claim: A user named Gautam Singh shared this image and claimed that “women were dragged with shackles with their feet”. The photo was posted on Twitter with the caption, “2. 1990's Taliban Afghanistan - When women were dragged with shackles on their feet. There used to be 2/3 wives of a husband in every house, whose feet were tied with chains #Afghanwomen (sic).”
2. 1990's Taliban Afghanistan - When women were dragged with shackles on their feet. There used to be 2/3 wives of a husband in every house, whose feet were tied with chains. #AfghanWomen pic.twitter.com/XPPpE8IoFi
— GAUTAM SINGH (@crzygautam) August 16, 2021
News Verification: The image is not from Afghanistan and it is from Iraq from the year 2003. This has been confirmed by the international news agency Associated Press (AP). Also, Twitter flagged Singh’s post as “manipulated media”.
“The photo was manipulated, and the chains were added. Photographer Murat Duzyol told Associated Press he took the original photo in Erbil, Iraq, in February 2003,” AP reported.
“The day the photo was taken, there was a ceremony commemorating Iraqi civilians who were killed in the city of Erbil,” he told AP.
“As people were returning to their homes after the ceremony, such a composition randomly appeared on the street. It’s a completely instant snapshot and completely natural. The women obviously knew each other, but I’m not sure they knew the man,” he added.
When you take a close look at the photo, it looks edited. The chains were added and also the shadow of the chain is in a different direction, making it a badly edited photograph, which many users have pointed out on Twitter.
Even three days after sharing the image and Twitter flagging it, the user has not deleted the post. It is still available on his account.
Verdict: False.
Conclusion: After the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, many fake posts have been floating on social media.
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