Two tweets, published consecutively in 2 minutes difference on Twitter by an influential Twitter account with more than 225,000 followers on March 13, 2022, were retweeted more than 800 and 1300 times respectively with 88, and 331 quote tweets.
Those who retweeted the posts re-shared the tweet using different captions. The two tweets posted a website link of an article, along with captions, written by the account owner, a popular journalist, and author, on his website. The article story reports the possible death that hit hundreds of thousands in the artificial famine in Tigray quoting a university scholar.
However, Haqcheck has come to realize that the image used to support the linked article on Twitter, is outdated and has nothing to do with the current situation in Ethiopia.
The conflict between Tigray forces and the federal government began on 3 November 2020, when Tigrayan security forces allegedly attacked the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) Northern Command bases and headquarters in the Tigray Region.
Amnesty International accused The Ethiopian federal government of severely restricting humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, from entering Tigray, in violation of international law.
The food shortage in the region has led to starvation with over 5 million people in need of emergency food assistance.
Even though the ruling party, Prosperity Party, revealed its readiness to end the war with any peaceful means, the war and its consequences still continue.
HaqCheck ran reverse image searches on the image and found the same photos in a website published by Reuters on Sep 9, 2016, before the Northern Ethiopia war erupted.
"A malnourished boy lies on a bed at a hospital in the red seaport city of Houdieda, Yemen," Reuters's report reads. The image was captured by Abduljabbar Zeyad, Reuters photographer.
Finally, HaqCheck found out that the image was changed on Mar 21, 2022, by the author.
Therefore, HaqCheck confirmed that the image used to support the claim is old and unrelated to the content, and rated it FALSE.
