2015 Image Of Militant Held In Kashmir Shared As Accused in Pakistan Lynching Case
The post circulated online after a Sri Lankan factory manager was lynched by a mob in Pakistan over blasphemy accusations.
In the aftermath of a Sri Lankan man being lynched for alleged blasphemy in Pakistan, a photo circulated online alongside a claim it shows a man in a burqa -- a traditional Islamic head-to-toe garment -- who was arrested in connection to the incident. The claim is false; the photo has circulated since 2015 in media reports about a gunman detained in Kashmir.
The photo was posted here on Twitter on December 7, 2021 by a user with more than 40,000 followers.
It shows a man wearing a burqa alongside chyrons from what appears to be a news broadcast.
The Urdu-language text on the image reads: "The accused in the Sialkot tragedy, Imran Rizvi, caught while escaping from his sister's house in a burqa."
The tweet's caption contains the same Urdu text and adds: "Where did the Ashiqi go".
"Ashiqi" is a word sometimes used to describe people who are affectionate towards the Prophet Mohammed in Islam.
The post circulated online after a Sri Lankan factory manager was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob in Pakistan who accused him of blasphemy. More than 100 people were arrested following the lynching, AFP reported on December 5, 2021.
Comments from some users suggested they believed the claim about the image.
One user commented: "These are the religion's core believers, who run away wearing burqas like women and tell people to sacrifice themselves."
Another user said the pictured man's "unsuccessful escape" proved that "Islam doesn't approve of [his] actions."
The photo was shared alongside a similar claim on Twitter here, here, here and here; on Facebook here, here, here and here; and on Instagram here and here.
The image, however, has been shared in a false context.
A reverse image search found a photo of the burqa-clad man posted here on October 16, 2015. It was published by NDTV.
"Two people were injured on Friday after a burqa-clad gunman opened indiscriminate fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district," the report reads.
The same photo was also posted here in a report about the same attack on October 16, 2015 by the Deccan Herald, an Indian English-language daily newspaper.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the false posts (left) and the image published by NDTV (right):
Screenshot comparison, taken on December 10, 2021. ( AFP / ) AFP has previously debunked posts falsely claiming to show the mother of the Sri Lankan man who was killed in Pakistan.
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