Photo of Muslim youths wearing ISIS t-shirt is from Tamil Nadu and not from Kerala.

Claim

This is a photograph from Kerala of a local Muslim youth wearing an ISIS t-shirt and posing with the ISIS hand symbol indicating that there is only ONE God, THEIR God! And yet, people have the audacity to claim that #LoveJihad is a hoax. The #KeralaStory is true!

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Rating

Explanation

The movie ‘The Kerala Story’ is released recently and became controversial for misinterpretation of facts despite mentioning that the story is based on real incidents. The movie is based on the radicalization of Kerala women by ISIS.

Meanwhile, a photo of a group of youths in ISIS-printed black t-shirts is widely shared to claim that local Muslim youths from Kerala wore ISIS t-shirts and posed with ISIS symbol and this is shared in a context that the movie ‘The Kerala Story’ is true. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here and here.

What is the truth?

When searching with relevant keywords, we found that the photo is not only old but also from Tamil Nadu and not from Kerala. The Hindu article dated 4, August 2014 is found carrying the viral image with the caption “A group of Muslim youth sporting black T-shirts with “ISIS” mark at the coastal town of Thondi in Ramanathapuram district on Ramzan day.”

One of the people from the group posted the photo on Facebook which went viral leading the police to investigate. Later they found that none of the 26 Muslim youths had any direct or indirect link with ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and al-Shams).

Another Hindu article dated 6, August 2014 reported that the Ramanathapuram police arrested a Tirupur-based Imam who procured T-shirts and printed slogans in support of ISIS. The article mentioned, “After the arrest on Monday night of M. Abdul Rahman (24) and his accomplice Rilvan, who organised the photo session and had ordered the T-shirts, a special police team from the district visited the hosiery town of Tirupur and detained S.Faizur Rahman (27) who procured the T-shirts and supplied them to Rilvan after printing a modified ISIS emblem on them.”

The same photo was shared with different false claims earlier. And now it is shared in support of the movie ‘The Kerala Story’ to falsely claim that the photo is from Kerala and hence the movie is based on real incidents.

Conclusion

It is found that the viral image of Muslim youths in an ISIS printed t-shirt is taken in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram in 2014 but is shared with false claims that it is from Kerala.

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