Satirical Video Caption Causes Confusion
The Claim
A video shared as Taliban forcing a woman to wear Hijab or headscarf.
Emerging story
A video is circulating on social media of what appears to be a policeman forcing a woman to remove her headscarf (hijab). However, users are claiming that it is the Taliban forcing women to wear the hijab. The tweet initially started in Arabic before spreading in English.
Misbar’s Analysis
Upon watching the video, it is clear that it is unrelated to the Taliban. The men in the video are dressed in Western policemen uniforms. The facilities are also akin to those usually seen in Western countries. The video shows an official forcibly removing the hijab while the claim is that they are forcing women to wear it. The author of the initial tweet in Arabic also later shared that the tweet was satire and had nothing to do with the Taliban, as seen in the screenshot below.
Nonetheless, some people without background knowledge shared the news without a confusing disclaimer. A relevant keyword search of the video revealed that it took place in Calgary, Canada. The whole clip is over 19 minutes and was uploaded on Youtube on 29 October 2020. The Calgary police officer forced a woman arrested for breaching curfew to remove her hijab before slamming her handcuffed into the ground face-first.
The author also cropped the video from the original as pictured below to conceal that it is from 2017.
The author likely did it to compare the outrage caused when the Taliban do something that Western officials may do. However, he failed to add that the constitution of the Western countries protects the victims, who can later use when their rights are obstructed, which is a protection and justice not given to Afghans. Given the findings, the Misbar team confirms this as satire.
