An old photo of mock coffins being carried by Shiite Muslims as part of a religious procession has resurfaced in social media posts. The photos falsely claimed to show victims of deadly tribal clashes in northwestern Pakistan in July 2024. Officials said at least 42 people were killed in the violence between Sunni and Shiite tribes, but the photo of worshippers commemorating the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson was taken in December 2009.
“Be the voice of Parachinar, for their voices have been silenced,” Read a Facebook post shared on July 29 by a page with over 1.3 million followers.
It was shared after fatal collisions in connection with a land feud between the Sunni Muslim Madagi and Shiite Mali Khel tribes in Pakistan’s mountainous northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, where communities adhere to traditional tribal codes of honor (archived link).
Officials reported that at least 42 people were killed and more than 150 injured during the days of the terror attacks. to fight with machine guns and mortars around the town of Parachinar (archived link).
The fighting broke out after a gunman opened fire on a council negotiating a decades-old dispute over farmland.
A photo accompanying the message shows coffins being carried through the streets covered in red cloths.
The photo was shared in similar posts on Facebook and also on X here And here.
However, the photo was taken years before the fighting in northwest Pakistan and shows a religious procession taking place in December 2009.
A reverse image search on Google found the original photo in the AFP archives, courtesy of AFP photographer Asif Hassan.
Below is a screenshot of the photo in the fake messages (left) and the AFP photo (right):
“Pakistani Shiite Muslims carry fake coffins during a funeral 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 commemorate the death of Imam Husain, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who died along with 72 companions on the battlefield of Karbala in Iraq some 1,400 years ago.”
The same photo was published on January 18, 2020 by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in a article on the return of calm to Karachi after a deadly bomb attack on a religious procession and a “subsequent series of ‘targeted killings’ that killed at least 35 rival political activists” (archived link).
AFP reported that 43 people were killed in the suicide attackthe worst attack in Pakistan’s financial capital in two years.
