A post is being shared on social media claiming that the Taliban are about to execute 229 Christian missionary families in Afghanistan. This post urges people to pray for all those Christians who have been the victims of radical Islamic groups. Let’s verify the claims made in the post.
Claim: Taliban terrorists are about to execute 229 Christian missionary families in Afghanistan.
Fact: A similar message has been circulating on social media at least since 2009. In July 2007, the Taliban kidnapped 23 South Korean Christian volunteers and took them hostage for six weeks. Two members of the group were executed, and the remaining 21 hostages were released after the South Korean government paid USD 20 million to the Taliban. Two years later, this message started circulating on social media. As per latest news reports, the Taliban are going door-to-door in certain provinces but it is nowhere reported that the Taliban are going to execute 229 Christian missionary families in Afghanistan. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched to find the latest news reports about the claim made in the post, we could not find any such news reports. If the Taliban had announced the execution of 229 Christian missionaries, several news organizations would have published the news by now. But we could not find a single news article reporting this information.
On searching for the details of the message shared in the post, we found that a similar message was shared by several social media users in 2017 and 2018. They can be seen here and here. Revealing the truth behind this message, the ‘ACI Press’ media had published an article in February 2020. According to the article, the Taliban kidnapped 23 South Korean Christian volunteers in 2007. Two members of the Christian volunteer group were reportedly executed, and the remaining 21 hostages were released after the South Korean government paid USD 20 million to the Taliban. This article reported that after two years, in 2009, this message started circulating on social media. Reporting the same, the ‘Snopes’ and ‘AFP’ websites published fact-check articles. They can be read here and here.
On 15 August 2021, the Taliban took complete control over Afghanistan. According to the latest reports, the Taliban are going door-to-door in certain provinces. Several news websites have published articles reporting this information. Some Christian websites have expressed concern over the fate of Christians in Afghanistan which can be read here and here. But it is nowhere reported that the Taliban are going to execute 229 Christian missionary families in Afghanistan.
To sum it up, an old message that the Taliban are about to execute 229 Christian missionaries in Afghanistan is revived again.
