Execution video from 2021 filmed in Ethiopia's Tigray region, not in Amhara
The 19-second clip posted on Facebook on May 15, 2025, is accompanied by text in Amharic that reads: 'Do not ask me why I must support Fano. Do not ask me why I hated the prosperity party and soldiers in military uniform.'
The Prosperity Party governs Ethiopia.
Image
Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on May 19, 2025.
The video, which has been shared more than 470 times, also contains a text overlay in Amharic which translates to: 'Amharas are being massacred. Please share this video with all.'
The harrowing footage shows people wearing military uniforms rounding up and shooting an unarmed group in civilian clothes in a dry, hilly area.
A similar post was also shared on Facebook.
Amhara conflict
After the Ethiopian federal government decided to disarm all local paramilitary groups in April 2023, the Fano militia – who were former allies during the Tigray war – turned against the state and a fresh conflict began in the Amhara region (archived here).
AFP reported in March 2025 that the fighting has caused a humanitarian crisis: several million children are out of school and many hospitals are no longer functioning (archived here).
In the same month, federal forces said they had killed nearly 300 Fano fighters, while reports indicated that the government had lost control of much of the rural areas in the region.
Last year, Amnesty International reported that the Ethiopian army had carried out extrajudicial executions of civilians in Amhara (archived here).
However, the footage circulating on Facebook is unrelated to current events in the region.
Mahbere Dego massacre
AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video.
The results established that a longer version of the clip, just over 90 seconds in length, was published on a gore site on June 17, 2021.
Show
Hide
Content warning
Show
Image
Screenshot of the longer version original video, taken on May 20, 2025
Hide
The English caption reads: 'Ethiopia: Soldiers Executing Civilians (Longer version)', adding that 'it happened in Tigray, Ethiopia, where people say they are living a genocide'.
A week later, Bellingcat, an independent organisation known for its digital investigative reporting on armed conflicts, published a report about this specific footage, which had been circulating on social media at the time, and concluded it was similar to other videos it verified of a massacre by Ethiopian soldiers in Mahbere Dego in the Tigray region sometime in January 2021 (archived here).
Bellingcat's report included screenshots from the footage, which we matched to the video in the Facebook posts falsely claiming the events depicted were filmed recently in Amhara.
Show
Hide
Content warning
Show
Image
Screenshots from Bellingcat's report (left) and the false post, taken May 20, 2025
Hide
CNN also aired part of the video a few days after Bellingcat published its findings. 'New video of Ethiopia massacre shows soldiers documenting executions,' the CNN caption reads (archived here).
Months earlier, in April 2021, Belligcat ran an in-depth report on the Mahbere Dego massacre based on similar footage it believed was filmed in the same place and at the same time (archived here).
BBC Africa Eye also published a similar investigative report about the massacre in the same month (archived here).
The war in Tigray, pitting the Ethiopian military against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), cost more than 600,000 lives before a peace agreement was signed in Pretoria, South Africa, in November 2022 (archived here).
Both sides were accused of atrocities (here and here) against civilians (archived here and here).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
8 hours ago
- LeMonde
Charged with the murder of Tunisian national Hichem Miraoui in southern France, Christophe Belgembe denies any racist motive
Christophe Belgembe, the suspect in the murder of Tunisian national Hichem Miraoui on May 31 in the southern French town Puget-sur-Argens, was charged on Thursday, June 5, with "murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, motivated by race, ethnicity, nationality or religion." This judicial investigation is the 20 th opened by the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) since 2017 for acts inspired by far-right ideology, most of which were foiled attack plots. However, this is the first time an actual attack – in this case a murder – linked to this ideology has been treated as a terrorist act. In a statement released on Thursday, the PNAT said that Belgembe, 53, had admitted to the facts while in police custody. Married, without children and unemployed, he nevertheless denied "any racist motivation" as well as "any terrorist intent." But the PNAT noted that prior to his deadly rampage, he had posted a video on Facebook where he declared: "French people (...) wake up, go find them where they are," pledged "allegiance to the blue, white and red," and announced his intention to say "stop to Islamics" and to "take out a few, just by leaving my house, all the undocumented [migrants]."
France 24
10 hours ago
- France 24
Blame social media? Murder in French Riviera town follows online hate speech
In France, outrage over the 53-year old who posted five times to Facebook before and after killing his Tunisian neighbor and who also targeted two Kurdish asylum seekers. Posts included a call to 'go get them wherever they are' and to vote for Marine Le Pen's National Rally. It was enough for it be treated as a terror case and for the conservative right interior minister to make the trip to the French Riviera town of Puget-sur-Argens. How much of the blame for the real-life attack goes to the virtual world? As US tech platforms downsize fact checking and content moderation on their site, the European Union finds itself in a bind. Its Digital Services Act needs enforcement and reinforcement, say anti-racism advocates. But it's also locked in wide-ranging trade negotiations with a United States whose vice-president clearly states that Europe's biggest challenge is 'the threat within' of assault on free speech and censorship of Maga-world ideas. Does Europe have what it takes to define and defend the free exchange of ideas while preventing the phones in our pockets from becoming bullhorns for hate?
AFP
13 hours ago
- AFP
Digitally altered photo misleads on Trump's response to South Korea presidential election
"As soon as [Lee Jae-myung] was inaugurated as president, 'Yoon Again' was spotted on Trump's cellphone," reads part of a Korean-language Facebook post shared on June 5. "It means President Yoon is still the only leader Trump accepts." A photo attached to the post appears to show US President Donald Trump holding up a phone with "Yoon Again" displayed on its screen; the slogan was adopted by impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol's supporters who believe his removal from office was illegitimate (archived link). The posts were shared a day after Lee won South Korea's snap presidential election by a large margin, ending months of political unrest triggered by Yoon's imposition of martial law and subsequent impeachment (archived link). Image Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on June 5, 2025 The same doctored image and claim were widely circulated in Facebook groups backing Yoon and other conservative figures in South Korea, as well as on far-right forum Ilbe. "President Trump will correct the results of South Korea's presidential election as he seems to have watched it closely," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "Trump is the only ally to President Yoon still standing, let's put our trust in him." As of June 6, Trump had not called the new South Korean president, with analysts saying any further delay may signal reluctance on the US president's part to engage with the new leader (archived link). The circulating image, however, has been altered. Doctored phone screen A keyword search found the circulating image was altered from a photo taken by AFP photographer Saul Loeb on May 30 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, as Trump disembarked from Air Force One. Trump's phone lock screen in fact shows a picture of the president pointing forwards, not a message of support for Yoon. The date displayed on the phone screen also reads "May 30" -- four days before South Korea's presidential election. Image Screenshot comparison of the altered image shared on Facebook (left) and the AFP photo (right) According to reports by MSNBC and Euronews, the image of Trump's phone screen was widely discussed on social media, with his supporters praising the president and his critics calling him "self-absorbed" (archived here and here). Another photo taken by Loeb also shows Trump's phone screen did not display a message of support for Yoon. AFP has debunked multiple false claims about Trump's supposed opinion on South Korea's impeached president.
