Doubts raised over Aleppo girl Bana al-Abed’s Twitter account
The Twitter account of seven-year-old Syrian girl Bana al-Abed, who became a symbol of the Syrian conflict, with some dubbing her the ‘Anne Frank of Syria,’ has fallen subject to suspicions over its authenticity.
#syria Bana al-Abed is filmed by her mother as they prepare to post on Twitter about life in #Aleppo on October 12 #AFP by @THAER__MOHAMEED
Bana’s account, which has been verified by Twitter, was set up three months ago, and has since gathered over 220,000 followers, along with global media coverage. The tweets, written by both Bana and her mother, Fatemah, depict life under siege in east Aleppo.
When the girl’s Twitter account was deactivated on Sunday, her supporters were distraught, believing she had been killed. The hashtag, #WhereIsBana was used as people hoped for good news.
#WhereisBana do hope that little Bana & her family are safe. Am sending love & prayers to you all. Such trauma for people of #Aleppo #Syria
However, the next day her account was re-activated and she tweeted that she was fine.
#Bana_Alabed twitter.com/kshaheen/statu …
#Bana_Alabed we are so happy you're alive !!! Take care of yourself. We hope and pray for you and all #Aleppo
While many people have only fondness and concern for the Aleppo girl, to others, the account presents a number of questionable elements that some say point to a propaganda effort, pointing to videos where Bana appears to be reading from a prompt.
Amazed that #media have become enamored w/ tweets ALLEGEDLY from 7 yr old #Bana_alAbed in #Aleppo #Syria, yet no one has FACT CHECKED her
I am sick now. The war started again, there's no medicine. Please pray for me dear world. - Bana #Aleppo#StandWithAleppo
@AlabedBana The Army has food, water, warm clothes & medicines for civilians.Be a mother and take your child to safety in the liberated area
@Filmandwriting She is a child being abused by her terrorist parents. Take a close look at the account.
Such doubts aren’t unusual when such accounts emerge. In 2011, Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari, who became famous for her “gay girl in Damascus” blog was revealed to be a hoax created by Tom MacMaster, an American man living in Edinburgh.
In January, an image reported as being a ‘before’ image of a starving Syrian child from the town of Madaya turned out to be an unrelated girl living in Lebanon. The White Helmets group have also been accused of being a propaganda tool.
As a result, questions have been raised as to Bana’s ability to timely hashtags and tweet in an area that doesn’t always have electricity or internet.
Within two days of setting up the account, she had used #HolocaustAleppo, #MassacreInAleppo, #StopAleppoMassacre and tweeted at Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Barack Obama and Syrian President Bashar Assad.
@RenieriArts @jk_rowling I've neverseen lttl girl's TW profile looks such political and socorrectly hashtaged.From bombed unpowered region))
I'm in Manchester England and struggle to get internet sometimes how has that bana alabed got internet in a war zone???? #Bana_Alabed
The account says Bana’s mother, Fatemah, is a teacher and her father, Ghassan, works for the “legal department of the local council,” the Telegraph reports. For some, however, this isn’t enough, claiming Bana’s parents are jihadists who are using their daughter to further propaganda in their favor.
Hey @AlabedBana can you ask your dad why he's friends with jihadists from Jabhat Nusra and Ahrar Sham?
@BernieBaldwin oh Bernie check her moms original account- she's a Jihadist fighter
@skidder89 @AlabedBana stay strong? Her family are terrorists
Some social media sleuths have raised questions over a picture shared byAmmar Jaber in which Bana is featured, as Jaber has also been photographed with Mahmoud Raslan, the photographer behind the Aleppo Boy image, which itself has been accused of being “war propaganda.”
Raslan, in turn, has been pictured with members of the Nour al-Din al-Zinki movement, who were recorded taunting a Palestinian child before they beheaded him.
News verification company Storyful has also made efforts to verify the account. “The mother, who says her name is Fatemah, has sent Storyful photos of her daughter, not pictured on the Twitter account,” Global News quoted Storyful.
“The photographs tally with the images shared on Twitter. Fatemah shared a photograph of her passport with Storyful, which corroborates her identity. The passport lists her birthplace as Aleppo,” Storyful said.
This isn’t enough for some, however, with a seemingly increasing number of people that have questioned the account’s authenticity claiming that they have been blocked, particularly after raising questions over whether the account was registered in the UK, although screenshots of such metadata can be altered.
@AlabedBana Dear banana , why is your twitter account registered in the UK and why are you banning ppl for asking this?
@Pinsnowes11 @AlabedBana Some dude read out the metadata of her account, asked the same question and got banned
As media reports about the ‘liberated’ rebel stronghold areas of Aleppo emerge, showing civilians fleeing and sharing accounts of rebels withholding supplies and shooting at civilians trying to leave through humanitarian corridors, Bana’s tweets appear to be at odds with these reports.
@AlabedBana Why won't the rebels let you leave?
https://www.rt.com/business/369635-shale-market-spending-opec/
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home