An old photo of mock coffins carried by Shiite Muslims as part of a religious procession has resurfaced in social media posts that falsely claimed it showed victims of deadly tribal clashes in northwest Pakistan in July 2024. Officials said at least 42 people had been killed in the violence between Sunni Muslim and Shiite tribes, but the photo of worshippers marking the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson was taken in December 2009.
“Be the voice of Parachinar, as their 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 after deadly clashes linked to a land feud between the Sunni Muslim Madagi and Shiite Mali Khel tribes in Pakistan’s mountainous northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where communities abide by traditional tribal honour codes (archived link).
Officials said at least 42 people had been killed and more than 150 wounded during days of fighting with machine guns and mortars around the town of Parachinar (archived link).
The clashes erupted after a gunman opened fire at a council negotiating a decades-long dispute over farmland.
A photo included in the post shows coffins draped in red-stained cloth being carried down a street.
The photo was shared in similar posts on Facebook as well as on X here and here.
However, the photo was taken years before the clashes in northwestern Pakistan and shows a religious procession that took place in December 2009.
A reverse image search on Google found the original photo in AFP’s archives, credited to AFP photographer Asif Hassan.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the photo in false posts (left) and the AFP photo (right):
“Pakistani Shiite Muslims carry mock coffins during a mourning procession in Karachi on December 30, 2009,” the photo caption reads.
“Shiite Muslims over the world observe Moharam, the first month of Lunar calendar, to mark the death of Imam Husain, grandson of Prophet Mohammad who died along with 72 companions on the battlefield of Karbala Iraq, some 1,400 years ago.”
The same photo was published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on January 18, 2020 in an article about calm returning to Karachi after a deadly bombing at a religious procession and a “subsequent spree of ‘target killings’ that left at least 35 rival political activists dead” (archived link).
AFP reported that 43 people were killed in the suicide bombing, the worst attack in Pakistan’s financial capital for two years.
