Old and unrelated video shared as Iranian girl assaulted over Hijab

This incident was only a conflict between two students that happened outside the school in Iran and dates back to March of last year. Not related to the assault over Hijab.

A disturbing video of a girl with blood on her face has gone viral on social media. Users claim that the girl in this video was attacked for not fully covering her head with a hijab. The video shows a young girl sitting down, surrounded by two women who are attempting to console her and treat her injuries.

This video is circulating on social media in the context of the anti-hijab protest that erupted across Iran last September in response to the death of a young woman named Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police following her arrest for not properly wearing the hijab.

The caption of the post states,“Little girl bleeding after getting hit in Iran. Her fault? She didn’t wear Hijab. “Hijab is a choice” is the biggest scam of our times”

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The same video has also been widely shared on Facebook with the caption “Horrific abuse in Iran. This Iranian school girl, Sarah Shirazi, was beaten for not wearing hijab “properly”.The “hijab is a choice in Iran” is the biggest scam. Shame on the Islamic regime. May Allah avenge this little girl for the oppression and abuse she is suffering”.

Media outlets Firstpost and OneIndia reported similar claims that the girl was assaulted for not wearing the hijab properly.

Fact Check- 

We began our investigation by conducting a reverse image search on Google using the keyframes of the viral video, and the results led us to a report published on 3 March, 2022 by the Iranian news outlet Saheb Khabar. According to the report the students in the Khaneh neighbourhood of Isfahan, a city in Iran, fought with each other over some personal issue. Following this, the mother of one of the students intervened in the argument and slapped the other child. “Police have lodged a case against the lady who slapped the girl child”, the report stated.

In further search we came across another report from Mehr News published on 3 March , 2022. The report clarifies that the viral video is unrelated to an altercation over hijab. Mehr News quotes Jalal Salmani, the head of Isfahan Province Education Public Relations Department, saying, “This incident was only a conflict between two students that happened outside school and while the students were returning home. The school principal investigated the matter, and during a conversation with the parents, it became clear that it was due to a dispute and tension between the two children. “The tension created between these two students has nothing to do with the issue of hijab. Whatever has been published in cyberspace about this is false. A case has been filed on the incident and the investigation is on”, the report noted.

Later we found other news articles reporting the same incident in March 2022. According to one of the reports, “The main story was a fight between two students, and the arrival of the mother of one of them and defending her daughter led to the injury of this female student.” The same information has been mentioned in every news report. None of the reports has mentioned anything about the Hijab issue. 

We can clearly understand from these evidences that old and unrelated video is falsely shared as Iranian girl attacked over Hijab.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. This incident was only a conflict between two students that happened outside the school in Iran and dates back to March of last year. Not related to the assault over Hijab.