A video has been shared repeatedly on Facebook and Twitter in April 2020 alongside a claim it shows corpses in body bags at an apartment that is home to a New York-based Islamic group. The posts claim the victims died in the apartment after contracting the novel coronavirus because they ignored social distancing rules.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:, "The posts cation reads: “The Dawah group USA (similar to India Tablighi Jamat) announced they were not afraid of Covid19 and would go everywhere even if they had the virus. What is the result now in New York ? The Dawah Group is littered with dead bodies inside their own apartments. This virus is unsparing and demands that we take care.”", The term\xa0Dawah is defined as “the practice or policy of conveying the message of Islam to non-Muslims” in the Collins Dictionary. There is no single "Dawah Group" in the US., “India Tablighi Jamat” is a reference to a\xa0gathering that\xa0Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic revivalist movement, organised in Delhi in March 2020. The event\xa0was identified as a COVID-19 hotspot after being linked to dozens of infections and several deaths, AFP\xa0reported., The same video was also shared alongside similar claims on Facebook\xa0here, here, here and here and on Twitter\xa0here, here, here and here., The claims, however, are misleading., The footage in fact shows body bags at the\xa0Islamic International Funeral Services, a mortuary in Brooklyn that offers Islamic\xa0funeral services., "At the videos three-minute 15-second mark, two phone numbers can be seen on the\xa0front window that match the numbers listed on the companys website.", Below is a screenshot of the video showing the phone numbers:, A spokesperson for the Islamic International Funeral Services told AFP\xa0the video was recorded inside its premises., “Yes, this video is from our Islamic funeral centre but the dead bodies kept inside are COVID-19 victims from all the religions, including Chritianity, Hindu and Sikh," the spokesperson told AFP by phone on April 29, 2020., "I have kept these bodies of the COVID-19 victims irrespective of their religion in the wake of rising death tolls due to the pandemic.”, A separate keyword search also found that the\xa0Islamic International Funeral Services was\xa0featured in this\xa0YouTube video published\xa0by Ruptly, a German-based news agency which is part of the Russian-government funded\xa0news network RT., The video, titled: “USA: Funeral services overwhelmed as coronavirus deaths top 4,000 in NYC”,\xa0shows the same front window of the\xa0funeral home and details the issue of overloaded mortuaries due to COVID-19., , The video\s caption reads in part: “Footage shows vans arriving and leaving Schaefer Funeral Home and Islamic International Funeral Services in Brooklyn, with signs outside the building reading, "Due to the coronavirus there is absolutely no families allowed in the building. We are more than happy to serve you by phone, we apologise for any inconvenience.”, , , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
Footage of bodies at New York funeral home circulates with misleading claim in India | AFP Fact Check