Fact-check: Photo of Mahrang Baloch with foreign journalist misused to question her agenda
The foreigner in the picture is Ola Hana, a video journalist in Oslo
Updated Tuesday Aug 13 2024
Multiple Pakistani social media accounts are sharing a photo of Dr Mahrang Baloch, an organiser of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), alongside an unidentified foreigner.
The accounts question her character and suggest an "anti-state" agenda.
The claim is false. The man in the photo is a video journalist, and the picture was taken by the news organisation that interviewed Dr Mahrang Baloch in May.
Claim
On August 1, a user on X (formerly known as Twitter) posted a picture of Dr Mahrang Baloch with a foreigner. The user captioned the image: “Mahrang Baloch has thrown poor Baloch children into war while she herself enjoys with foreigners.”
The post has been viewed over 25,000 times and reposted 66 times to date.
On the same day, another X account also wrote: “Look. This is Mahrang Baloch. Where is she humiliating herself? This picture exposes her.”
The post had garnered over 37,000 views and 463 reposts, at the time of writing.
Similar claims were also shared here, here and here.
Fact
The photo being shared online was taken on May 30 at the studio of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) in Oslo, following Dr Mahrang Baloch video interview.
The foreigner in the picture is Ola Hana, a video journalist.
Kiyya Baloch, a Pakistani journalist, confirmed to Geo Fact Check that he took the picture himself in Oslo after Dr Mahrang Baloch's interview with the Norwegian public broadcaster, NRK. He shared the same photo on his X account in July.
The information was further corroborated by Atta Ansari, a journalist with NRK who conducted the interview with Dr Mahrang Baloch. Ansari also shared additional pictures taken that day.
He added that the foreigner in the photo is Ola Hana, an Oslo-based video journalist who recorded Dr Mahrang Baloch's interview. Ola Hana also confirmed to Geo Fact Check via email that he works for NRK.
Additionally, the picture being circulated shows Ola Hana holding a camera with the NRK logo on it.
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