2007 UNICEF Photo shared as Taliban governor who married a 18 year old girl
A number of media outlets have published a report regarding the marriage of an elderly Taliban official with a teenage girl on July, 2. Based on published reports, Zainul Abdin, the Taliban governor of Laghman province, has married an 18 year old girl by paying 2 million and 285 thousand Afghanis and one piece of land. It is stated in the report that the girl whom the Taliban governor married is a resident of Aljigrovi village of Alingar district.
This news has also been sharedon social media pages.
Simultaneously, the Daryo has also published a picture. In the published picture, an old man can be seen with a teenage girl.
The photo has been published without any context, making one believe that the photo is of the Taliban governor and his teenager bride. However, our findings indicate that the image is not related to the event but is an old image published by UNICEF in 2007. Here is the fact check.
Face Check
The findings about the published photo shows that it is old. Based on the findings, this image was chosen as the picture of the year by UNICEF in 2007.
UNICEF published this photo on its website and entitled it as UNICEF Photo of the Year 2007.
In the description of this photo, UNICEF stated that the man Mohammad F (name changed) and the child Ghulam H (name changed) are an Afghan couple. They are forty and eleven years old respectively.
UNICEF has confirmed that Stephanie Sinclair took the image.
On the other hand, Refworld also published this photo on Jan, 4, 2008.
This website stated in the description of this photo: “The winning shot, by American photographer Stephanie Sinclair, shows a 40-year-old Afghan man, Mohammad, sitting next his visibly horror-stricken fiancee, Ghulam. She is barely 11 years old”.
Conclusion
Following the marriage of The 60 year old governor of the Taliban for Laghman with an 18-year-old girl, an old picture of an Afghan couple was published as the photo of the couple. Our investigation shows that the photo shared as Governor and his teenage bride is actually an award-winning photo by American photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair. Sinclair covered a story on child brides in Afghanistan in 2007 when she took this photo.
Title:2007 UNICEF Photo shared as Taliban governor who married a 18 year old girl
Written By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: Partly False
