Claim: A video shared on social media claims that it shows a man at the funeral of his daughter, who was purportedly killed by Iranian morality police for not covering her hair.
Fact: The claim is false. The video is not from Iran; it is actually a clip from an episode of an Azerbaijani television series from January 2018.
On 28 September 2022, a video was posted on Twitter with the caption, “Saddest thing I have ever seen in my life: a father who promised his daughter he will dance at her wedding now dancing at her grave after she was killed by Iranian regime in the protests against killing people for forced hijab.”
The 20-second video shows a man crying and dancing in front of a group of people carrying a coffin.
Iran has been rocked by protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by the country’s so-called ‘moral police’ for allegedly breaking the national dress code for women. Amini’s family believes her death was caused by police brutality while she was in custody.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search on Yandex which led to a clip from an Azarbaijani drama series called “Ata Ocaği.”
A keyword search on Google revealed an article published by Egyptian news portal Veto on 12 April 2021.
According to the article, the footage has circulated alongside similar allegations in Iran and other Arab countries at least since 2019. However, the clip is actually from an Azerbaijani TV show called “Father’s Hearth.” The series has been uploaded to YouTube by the Azerbaijan television network Khazar TV here.
The viral clip can be seen at the 19 minute and 5 second mark of an episode that was published on 9 January 2018.
The actor shown in the video uploaded in the false posts is Gurban Ismayilov. Other pictures of him can be seen here on the Azerbaijan news agency’s website.
Virality
The false video received 500k views, 1,222 likes, and 602 retweets on Twitter. It can also be seen here, here and here.
Renowned author of the Harry Potter series, J.K Rowling, also retweeted the video with false claim. Rowling has a verified Twitter account with over 13 million followers.
The clips from the false video can be seen here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
On Instagram, the video shared as reel received 70,000 views and 2,800 likes.
Conclusion: The video going viral on social media as a father mourning his daughter is not from Iran but is actually from an Azerbaijani TV show.