Muslim Woman Held in Australia for Wearing Burqa? No, It’s Fake
The incident took place in Spain and the woman was arrested for her alleged involvement in IS recruitment.
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CLAIM
A photograph is being circulated online with the claim that a Muslim woman was arrested in Australia for wearing a burqa. The message at the top of the image further goes on to claim that despite being handcuffed, the woman didn’t bow down in front of the police.
The handcuffed woman can be seen being escorted by the police personnel in the picture.
TRUE OR FALSE?
While the picture is legitimate, the real version is different from the one which is being circulated. Firstly, the incident took place in Spain and not in Australia as claimed in the video. Secondly, the woman was not arrested for wearing a burqa but for allegedly recruiting another women for the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT?
On doing a reverse image search of the photograph using the Yandex search engine, we came across multiple articles which had covered the incident in September 2015.
As per media reports, an 18-year-old Moroccan girl was arrested in Gandia, a city in Spain, for her alleged involvement in the IS recruitment process. She was handcuffed and paraded on the street before a crowd.
The 18-year-old was allegedly working towards making it easier for young girls to take the decision of joining the Islamic State. The girl was caught while planning her escape to Syria.
According to a police statement, the girl was Moroccan but was living in Spain for some time and was accused of spreading “jihadist ideology on the internet”.
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