The Guardian and a number of other media have reported on October 12, 2022 that the Taliban killed an Afghan queer student. The victim is identified as Hamed Sabouri, a medical student.
The media reported that Hamed Sabouri was arrested at a Taliban checkpoint in August this year. According to published reports, this queer student was tortured for three days before being killed. Reports also stated that the Taliban have sent the video of the killing of Hamed Sabouri to his family.
In the continuation of these reports, it has been said that Hasib Sabouri, Hamed’s brother, confirmed in an email that his family sold their two houses in Afghanistan and fled to Turkey due to the threat of the Taliban and the murder of Hamed Sabouri.
Simultaneously with the publication of the report of the killing of Hamed Sabouri, the Guardian and Gaynrd.com, LGBTQ Nation, Queer Insider, News.italy24.press, Viraltab.news, Washingtonblade, Flipboard, Romania.postsen.com, Edgemedianetwork, 76Crimes, Headtopics, Reddit.com, Losangelesblade, Aol, JRLcharts, Mambaonline, Out.tv, Gay.it, Advocate, Olumorocktv, Limportant.fr are the websites that published pictures of a young boy as his picture.
The Guardian then changed this image on October 18, 2022 and wrote this issue a the end of its report.
| The Guardian | GAYNRD | Italy 24 PressNews | LGBTQ Nation | Queer Insider |
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This news has also been shared on social media pages. Since October 15, 2022, a number of social media users have posted the news of the killing of Hamed Sabouri, an Afghan queer student. Along with this news, the users also shared the photo of a young boy as the photo of Hamed Sabouri.
On Oct 19, 2022, Afghan LGBT Organization as well reported that the Taliban shot and killed a gay man after three days of torture. Along with this report the photo of a young boy was shared as the photo of Hamed Sabouri.
Factcheck
In our investigation, we found that the photo published widely as Hamed Sabouri is of another youth Safiullah Ahmadi.
By publishing a video, Safiullah Ahmadi said that the Guardian and a number of other media have published his pictures as the picture of a queer student, allegedly murdered by the Taliban. In this video, Mr. Ahmadi has confirmed that he is alive and is defending his dignity against the Guardian and other media that have used his image.
The Guardian changed the picture of Safiullah Ahmadi on October 18, 2022 and wrote this issue at the end of its report.
Muslim Shirzad, one of the Afghan journalists, published the video of Safiullah Ahmadi on his Twitter page on October 19, 2022.
Safiullah Ahmadi asked Afghanistan`s media to correct their news regarding this issue. “I will sue The Guardian” Ahmadi said.
On October 20, 2022, Reporterly also reported that Safiullah Ahmadi, an Afghan, may sue Guardian for mistakenly publishing his photo as a gay student who had been killed by the Taliban. In a video posted by an Afghan journalist, Ahmadi, said that he was looking to “restore his dignity”.
Result: Based on the findings of FactCrescendo, the Guardian and some other media have published the image of a young Afghan boy as the image of a queer student allegedly killed by the Taliban. The findings indicate that the published pictures are the pictures of not of the victim Hamed Sabouri.
Title:Photo of another Youth Incorrectly Shared As Queer Student Allegedly Killed By Taliban
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: Misleading
