This photo has circulated in media reports about a commander of an Iraqi militia group who decapitated ISIS members in the country
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on February 14, 2020 at 10:00
- 4 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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The picture was posted here on Facebook on February 8, 2020. It has been shared 124 times.
Translated to English, the Indonesian-language caption reads: “The woman who is a follower of ISIS felt so proud after decapitating Muslims in the name of Allah.
They really have mental illness.
“Do we have to accept the other 600 of them who have been exposed to villain terrorist virus like this?”
Below is the screenshot of the misleading post:
Following a lengthy public debate, Indonesia said it would not bring home nearly 700 hundred of its citizens, including women and children, who joined the Islamic State in the Middle East over security fears, AFP reported here on December 12, 2020.
The same picture of the woman has been shared nearly 100 times after it appeared on Twitter here with a similar claim.
The claim is false; the picture has circulated in various media reports about a commander of a militia group in Iraq who decapitated Islamic State members in the country.
(Warning: graphic content) A Google reverse image followed by subsequent keyword search found the photo was originally posted here on Facebook by Wahida Mohamed on November 19, 2015. The photo was part of a series of pictures that show the same woman posing with dead bodies.
Below is a screenshot of the original photo on the Facebook page of Wahida Mohamed:
The photo also appeared in this October 4, 2016 report published by the US-based International Business Times. The article's headline reads: “Iraq: Woman decapitates Isis members, cooks their head as revenge for killing her kin”.
The first four paragraphs of the report read: “An Iraqi woman is fast turning out to be an individual most dreaded by the Islamic State group — also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) — because she is paying them back in their own coin in her quest to exact revenge on them.
“The 39-year-old woman, named Wahida Mohamed Al Jumaily, has had several of her close relatives, including father, husband and three brothers, killed by Isis over the past couple of years. In fact, her husband was killed earlier this year, which seems to be trigger for her current action against Isis members.
“Jumaily, who seems to be better known as Um Hanadi among those who have come in contact with her, has already been compared to ‘Iraq's Rambo’ Abu Azrael, because of the similarities in their efforts to push Isis out of Iraq and regain the country for its residents.
“Jumaily leads a militia group of 70-odd people against Isis, and has reportedly not only decapitated members of the terrorist organisation but also cooked their heads, in a show of strength that is matched by what Isis itself does to many of its prisoners. She has even posted these photos on social media platforms.”
Below is the screenshot of the photo in the International Business Times report:
The photo’s caption reads: “Iraq: Woman decapitates Isis members, cooks their head as revenge for killing her kin. Wahida Mohamed Al Jumaily has received personal death threats from Isis chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”
The photo is credited to “Um Hanadi”, which is Al Jumaily’s alias.
Below is the screenshot comparison between the photo in the misleading post (L) and the photo in the International Business Times report (R):
Reports about Al Jumaily have been published by CNN on September 29, 2016 here and Al Jazeera on June 14, 2018 here.
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