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Clip from Iranian TV show shared: Man sexually abuses minors in Pakistan

Theo

By: Chandan Borgohain
21 June 2024

Social media posts falsely published a scene from an Iranian television show in which a Muslim man sexually abuses an underage girl. (Source: X/Screenshot)

The video is from the 2004 Iranian television series “Zahra’s Blue Eyes”. It has no connection to Pakistan and does not show any form of sexual violence.

Claim number 8fb4e4d6

What is the claim?

A short video clip showing an old man and a young girl in a grain field has gone viral on social media, with false claims that the man is a Pakistani Muslim committing an “unethical act” with an underage girl.

The clip was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Baba Banaras, a known spreader of misinformation. He wrote: “86-year-old Mohammad Moinuddin was caught engaging in unethical behavior with a 7-year-old minor girl. The video is from Jacobabad, Islamic Republic of Pakistan. These people are black spots in our society. They must be punished and ostracized.” Archived versions of this and other such posts can be found here Here, Here, And Here.

Screenshots of social media posts sharing the viral video. (Source: X/Screenshot)

However, this claim is incorrect. The viral clip actually shows a scene from a Syrian-Iranian television series from 2004.

What did we find?

By performing a reverse image search for a keyframe from the video, we found a YouTube video titled “Zəhranın mavi gözləri” Filmi. Zahra’s blue eyes. Filistinli Zehra’nın Gözleri Filmi” dated May 22, 2022. The viral clip is visible at the timestamp 02:32:45 of this video. Video (archived Here).

Subsequent keyword searches confirmed that “Zahra’s Blue Eyes” is indeed an Iranian television drama series from 2004.

A compilation of various episodes of the series was uploaded on January 26, 2024 on the verified YouTube channel “Network Movie”. According to the Videos Description (archived Here), the series directed by Ali Derakhshni revolves around an Israeli commander with a blind child who tries to get the eyes of a Palestinian child in order to restore sight to his own child. Also in this uploaded video, the viral clip can be found at around 02:32:45.

What is happening in the scene?

A review of the film reveals that the scene shown in the viral clip shows young Zahra and her grandfather Rahman taking refuge in a grain field to escape Israeli forces. This viral scene is preceded by a night scene in which Zahra and Rahman cross a railway line and escape into the grain field while being pursued by a large group of armed men.

The clip then cuts to the now-viral moment: Rahman wakes up in the morning light and Zahra is sleeping next to him in the open field. He gently wakes her up and says, “Zahra! Wake up, my love. It looks like there’s a road here.” Importantly, this entire sequence does not depict child abuse, contrary to claims circulating on social media.

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a US-based non-profit organization, the series, which was originally filmed in Persian and later dubbed into Arabic, revolves around the theme of “the Israeli government stealing the eyes of Palestinian children.” MEMRI TV has also broadcast the series on its websitewhich features the same older man and young girl seen in the viral footage.

This finally confirms that the viral scene comes from an Iranian television series and has no connection to the alleged incidents between a Pakistani man and an underage girl, as claimed by social media users.

The judgment

A scene from a ten-year-old Iranian television series was published with the false claim that it showed a Muslim man sexually abusing a minor in Pakistan.

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