I’ve had to add a fourth alleged piece of evidence to my fact-checking post on the alleged burning of Saint Ephraim’s Cathedral in Mosul, because Erbil-based Noor Matti (@NoorBabylon) complained, ‘#Assyrian cathedral burned in #mosul. No international attention what so ever.’
‘#Assyrian cathedral burned in #mosul. No international attention what so ever.’
(c) Noor Matti (@NoorBabylon), Twitter, 19th July 2014
Inevitably, it was false evidence. As documented in John McManus’s report for BBC News, then specifically identified in Larisa Epatko’s report for PBS Newshour, the image is another view of the Church of Prince Tadros in Minya after its arson on the 14th of August 2013.
A picture taken on Aug. 14 shows the facade of the Prince Tadros Coptic church after being torched by unknown assailants in the central Egyptian city of Minya.
(c) Stringer, AFP, Getty Images, 14th August 2013; PBS Newshour, 19th August 2013
I particularly object to these false claims because there are many true atrocities. Also, the church may have been attacked, but these false claims will undermine trust in any true reports, and will provide material for subsequent Islamist denialist propaganda.
conflict antiquities 