Old video of ISIS executing Shias is falsely shared as the massacre of Christians in Afghanistan - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 21, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the visuals show Christians being massacred in Afghanistan. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing Christians being massacred in Afghanistan.
Fact: The video is from Iraq and not Afghanistan. The visuals show ISIS fighters executing Shias in mass graves in 2014. According to a 2015 article by the Guardian, Afghanistan had been listed as one of the worst places to be a Christian in the world. Ever since, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, there are reports that Taliban made a hit list of known Christians to pursue and kill; some Christians are reportedly escaping to the hills in attempts to find safety. But the video is not related to treatment of Christians in Afghanistan. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the video, a YouTube video by CBS News was found with similar visuals. The YouTube video with the title, ‘ISIS attacks in Syria and Iraq may be emerging genocide’ was uploaded on 05 August 2014. The video shows ISIS fighters, in 2014, executing Shiite men in mass graves. According to the description of the video, ISIS then had stormed towns in northern Iraq. There is no mention of Christians being killed in Afghanistan, in the YouTube video.
According to a 2015 article by the Guardian, Afghanistan had been listed as one of the worst places to be a Christian in the world. It is estimated that there are more than 10,000 Christians in Afghanistan, most of them converts from Islam who practiced their faith underground. Ever since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, there are reports that the Taliban made a hit list of known Christians to pursue and kill; some Christians are reportedly escaping to the hills in attempts to find safety.
To sum it up, an old video of ISIS executing Shias is being falsely shared as the massacre of Christians in Afghanistan.