Claim: A video shows a protest in Kabul after Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s recent visit to Afghanistan.
Fact: The claim is false as the video is from 2015 when the public in Kabul protested against Maulana Fazlur Rehman after he visited the President of Afghanistan at the time, Ashraf Ghani.
On 9 January 2024, a video (archived) was shared on X (formerly Twitter) with a caption which, when translated to English, reads, “People came out on the streets of Kabul to protest against Fazal Rehman. [Explicit] Diesal.”
The video was shared following Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s visit to Kabul on the Afghan interim government’s invitation. This is the JUI-F’s first visit to the neighbouring country since the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Fact or Fiction?
To investigate, Soch Fact Check conducted a keyframe analysis of the video on InVID. The results showed an article published by BBC Urdu on 8 January 2015, containing images from the same viral video.
When translated into English, the caption accompanying one of the protest’s images notes, “According to some reports, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had invited Maulana Fazlur Rehman to visit Kabul.”
The caption of another image states that “Fazlur Rehman is considered a supporter of the Taliban responsible for the unrest in Afghanistan” and according to the caption of a third image, “The protestors held up placards that read that Taliban supporters are not welcomed.”
Screenshots of BBC Urdu article from 2015
Yandex results showed a YouTube video published on the channel Europa Liberă Moldova, an independent media company funded by the United States Congress, on 8 January 2015, proving that the video documents protests which took place in 2015 and not during Fazlur-Rehman’s recent trip to Kabul. The same logo as that of the viral video can be seen on the YouTube video.
Virality
The false video received 52,000 views, 900 likes and 450 reposts on X. The archived versions can be seen here.
On Facebook, the video was shared here, and here.
Conclusion: A video claiming to show a protest in Kabul against Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s recent visit is old and actually from 2015. The video does not show a protest in the wake of Fazlur Rehman’s recent visit to Kabul.
Background image in cover photo: Shabir Hussain
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com