An old photo of fake coffins carried by Shiite Muslims as part of a religious procession resurfaced in social media posts that falsely claimed they showed victims of deadly tribal clashes in northwestern Pakistan in July 2024. Authorities said at least 42 people were killed There is no violence between Sunni and Shia Muslim tribes, but the photograph of worshipers marking the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson was taken in December 2009.
“Be the voice of Parachinar, for your voices have been silenced,” Read a Facebook post shared on July 29 by a page with more than 1.3 million followers.
It was shared later deadly clashes linked to a land dispute between the Sunni Muslim Madagi and Shia Mali Khel tribes in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of northwestern Pakistan, where the communities obey traditional tribal codes of honor (archived link).
Authorities said at least 42 people were killed and more than 150 injured during days of fighting with machine guns and mortars around the city of Parachinar (archived link).
Clashes broke out after a gunman opened fire on a council negotiating a decades-old dispute over farmland.
A photo included in the post shows coffins wrapped in red-stained cloth being carried down a street.
The photo was shared in similar posts on Facebook as well as in here It is here.
However, the photograph was taken years before the clashes in northwest Pakistan and shows a religious procession that took place in December 2009.
A reverse image search on Google found the original photo in AFP archives, credited to AFP photographer Asif Hassan.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo in fake posts (left) and the AFP photo (right):
“Pakistani Shia Muslims carry fake coffins during a mourning procession in Karachi on December 30, 2009,” the photo caption reads.
“Shia Muslims around the world celebrate Moharam, the first month of the lunar calendar, to mark the death of Imam Husain, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, who died along with 72 companions on the battlefield of Karbala, Iraq, approximately 1,400 years old.”
The same photo was published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on January 18, 2020 in a article about the return of calm to Karachi following a deadly bombing of a religious procession and a “subsequent wave of ‘targeted killings’ that left at least 35 rival political activists dead” (archived link).
AFP reported that 43 people were killed in the suicide bombingthe worst attack in Pakistan’s financial capital in two years.
