Outdated Photo Shared as Migrant Woman on Polish-Belarus Border
The Claim
A photo depicts an Iraqi migrant woman begging a Polish border police officer.
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Emerging story
Social media pages and accounts have recently circulated a photo allegedly showing an Iraqi woman kissing the hand of a Polish border policewoman.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar looked into the claim and found it misleading. The photo was taken on Aug. 22, 2015, and shows a woman kissing the hand of a Macedonian border guard after crossing the border from Greece. Ognen Teofilovski, a Macedonian photographer, captured the image for Reuters. The nationality of the woman in the photo was not mentioned by Reuters when the picture was published.
Misbar also discovered a second photo of the same woman, taken at the same time and location by Georgi Licovski, an EPA photographer.
News websites in Arabic have shared the photos before and after the woman was allowed to cross the border with her child while reporting that she was from Syria.
At the time, thousands of migrants crossed the border from Greece to Macedonia, where the Macedonian special police force intercepted their advance using sound bombs and batons.
The photo has resurfaced as thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan gathered at the Polish-Belarus border to enter EU countries amidst difficult humanitarian conditions. However, Poland and Belarus prevented them from crossing the border.
The Iraqi foreign ministry announced on Friday, Nov. 12, that Baghdad is going to repatriate the Iraqi migrants wishing to voluntarily return to their country from Belarus during the coming days.
Translated by: Ahmed N. A. Almassri
