video of “destruction of Tomb of Prophet Jonah” may be from Syria, is from at least six months ago [accurate but out-of-date]

[Update (25th July 2014): on the 24th of July, the Islamic State destroyed the Tomb of the Prophet Jonah – indeed, the entire Mosque of the Prophet Yunus. This blog post accurately debunks a piece of propaganda that claimed its destruction before.]

Regarding the alleged destruction of the Tomb of the Prophet Jonah, in the past week or so, I’ve documented the contradictory unevidenced claims of the past month (which, sadly, persist), good evidence that alleged video evidence was false, conclusive proof that the alleged evidence was false, and the spread and danger of the false evidence. Now, Abdul Malek (@truthsMaster) has provided evidence that the video is at least six months old, and may have been filmed in Raqqa, Syria. [Update (16th July 2014): it is at least ten months old, and may have been filmed in Tadouf, Syria.]

Continued spread of inflammatory misinformation

As a depressing addition, just hours after I had once more appealed for the retraction of Iraqi News’ and the Daily Mail‘s demonstrably false story, especially because it was infecting public discourse within the region, the Kurdistani Slemani Times (@SlemaniTimes) shared one of the copies of the YouTube video. There’s no sign where they sourced the story, but it’s unlikely that they heard about it from the original reports, or they would’ve shared it on the 4th, the 5th, the 6th, the 7th or the 8th, instead of on the 12th.

21st January 2014… Raqqa, Syria?

Abdul Malek (@truthsMaster) captured and made English-language notes on a piece on Alghadeer TV. It showed that the photo and video had been produced and published by the 21st of January. Christopher Jones (@cwjones89) added that ‘the caption says it was taken in Raqqa‘. Alghadeer’s release of the video might itself be a recycling of an older video from a different place, but I agree with Jones that it is ‘highly likely’ that the video is from there, ‘since we already know ISIS destroyed artifacts there’.

Alghadeer TV reported that ‘Da’ash [had] started to demolish the tombs of companions [of Prophet Mohammed] and saints in the city of Raqqa [باشرت “داعش” بهدم أضرحة الصحابة والقديسيين في مدينة الرقة،]’. It had ‘decided… to to destroy all of the shrines of the companions, saints and mystics in the city of Raqqa [قرر … تدمير كافة الأضرحة التابعة للصحابة والقديسين والصوفيين في مدينة الرقة]’.

Unverified photo of ISIL element destroying grave of Prophet Younus at Younus Mosque in Mosul, Iraq
(c) Abdelhak Mamoun, Iraqi News, 4th July 2014

‘Da’ash has started to demolish the tombs of companions [of Prophet Mohammed] and saints in the city of Raqqa [باشرت “داعش” بهدم أضرحة الصحابة والقديسيين في مدينة الرقة،]’ (Alghadeer TV, 21st January 2014)
(c) Abdul Malek @truthsMaster, Twitter, 12th July 2014

Tags: Caliphate Daash Daesh Daish IS ISIL ISIS Islamic State, Iraq, Mosul, Nineveh, Tomb of Prophet Jonah