Iranian media successfully conned several Western news outlets into believing the Islamic State had banned women from wearing the burka near checkpoints in Mosul, Iraq.
The story seemed too good to be true, because it was: ISIS banned the burka, an unflattering head-to-toe covering seen most often in Afghanistan, after burka-clad women supposedly killed several ISIS commanders over several months in Mosul, Iraq, according to a report by Al-Alam News and translated by Iran Front Page.
The story caught fire Sept. 4, but the IFP report offered little evidence the ban ever occurred. Iran’s PressTV, a government-backed propaganda arm, followed with a similar story Sept. 5. In classic fashion, PressTV accused ISIS of hypocrisy after the group has previously killed many women for failing to adhere to its strict dress code. Both outlets noted the ban came just after the burqini ban controversy in France.
The story quickly made its way across a variety of Western news outlets, despite its uncertain origins. Many outlets, including here at The Daily Caller, noted that Iranian media sources, many of which have a dubious reputation, were the originators of the story.
“I’m thinking, why would anyone in Mosul contact an Iranian [news] agency,” Rasha al-Aqeedi, a Mosul native and research fellow at the al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center in Dubai, told The Daily Beast. The Beast broke the news Wednesday diagramming exactly how the burka ban traversed 10,000 miles and a lot of ideology to arrive on computers, phones and laptops in the West.
To be fair, stories about ISIS emanating from the group’s territory are notoriously difficult to corroborate. The terrorist group has killed off many journalists for portraying it in a negative light. Foreign journalists are essentially unheard of in the so-called caliphate.
Speaking to Iranians would be particularly dangerous for any Mosul resident, as Sunni ISIS and Shia Iran are mortal enemies who are actively fighting one-another. Additionally, the city has extremely limited internet access and citizens can rarely communicate with the outside world.
A friend of Aqeedi’s still living in Mosul told her the story was nonsense.
“The Afghani thing, no one ever wore that,” said Aqeedi.
The burka is traditionally an Afghan fashion, rarely seen outside of that region of the world. The niqab, a full-face covering that has a slit for the eyes similar to the burka, is more common in ISIS-held territory, but it has only recently become popular and there is no evidence to suggest it has been banned.
As it stands, the burka-ban appears to be nothing more than some clever Iranian propaganda.
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