Colombia's Video Passed Off as State of Christians in Afghanistan Under Taliban

The video shows a performance that dates back to 26 May and took place in Medellín, Colombia.

An old video from Colombia is being falsely used to show condition of Christians in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video of bodies wrapped in plastic bags is being circulated on social media with the claim that it shows the condition of Christians in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control.

However, we found that the video dates back to 26 May and is from Medellín, Colombia wherein artists had performed to remember the people who died during the 29 days of the national strike.

CLAIM

The claim mentioned that the video showed "Christians in Afghanistan are wrapped in nylon rubber to die slowly."

You can view the archived version here.

(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

Several social media users shared the video on Facebook with a similar claim and the archived posts can be viewed here and here.

The Quint received multiple queries on the claim made about the video on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We divided the video into multiple keyframes using InVID and reverse searched them on Google that led us to a tweet shared on 31 August.

While going through the replies to the tweet, carrying the viral visuals, we found that a user had suggested that the incident is from Colombia.

A reply to a tweet suggested that the video is from Columbia.

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

VIDEO OF A PERFORMANCE IN COLOMBIA

Next, we searched on YouTube using keywords 'Colombia bodies plastic bag' and found a video uploaded in July. In the comments section of the YouTube video, a user directed to a video uploaded on 27 May that carried visuals similar to the viral one.

The 12-minute-long video was captioned as: 'performance empaquetados en el poblado Medellín Colombia paro nacional 26 mayo 2021. (sic)'

(Translated: performance 'Empaquetados' in the town of Medellín Colombia national strike 26 May 2021)

A longer version of the video was uploaded on YouTube on 27 May.

(Photo: YouTube/ Altered by The Quint)

Taking a cue from here, we searched on Google by limiting the date range between 26 May-27 May, and came across a news report by Columbia-based newspaper El Espectador.

The article mentioned that 26 May marked 29 days of protests across Colombia. The protests had started against a tax reform proposal, that has now been shelved.

Further, the article published on 26 May, carried a visual, similar to the viral one, and mentioned how several artists did a performance to remember the people who died during the 29 days of the national strike.

The article published on 26 May carried a visual similar to the viral one mentioning that it's from Medellín, Colombia.

(Source: El Espectador/ Screenshot)

Meanwhile, on 26 May, BLU Antioquia, a Medellín- based radio channel, had also tweeted visuals of the performance held at 'parque del Poblado' (Poblado park).

The tweet shared by a Medellín- based radio channel mentioned that the performance took place at Poblado park.

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

GOOGLE STREET VIEW CONFIRMS THE LOCATION

We also compared the buildings seen in the 12-minute-long video, longer version of the viral one, with the street view available on Google Earth, and found several similar elements, suggesting that video is indeed from Medellín, Colombia.

Left: Viral video. Right: Google street view.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Here's a live view of the said location available on Google Maps.

Earlier, Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, had said that "Afghanistan's diverse ethnic and religious minorities are at risk of violence and repression" in the context of Taliban's history, a NBC News report mentioned.

In Afghanistan, people belonging to religions such as Hindu, Sikh, Christianity are part of the minority population.

Evidently, an old video from Columbia is being falsely used to show condition of Christians in Afghanistan.

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