Thread by @trbrtc

Last week, a horrific video emerged showing an unarmed, naked woman being beaten and executed by suspected members of Mozambique's armed forces (FADM). This happened near Awasse, a town in Cabo Delgado province, geolocation by @il_kanguru and @y_vdw shows.

https://twitter.com/il_kanguru/status/1305507168607776773

Amnesty International independently verified the location, adding that four different gunmen shot the unarmed woman a total of 36 times with a variety of Kalashnikov rifles and a PKM-style machine gun. Her naked body was left on the highway. amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

“We've just killed Al-Shabaab,” the men can be heard saying in Portuguese, referring to the armed group blamed for causing instability in the region since late 2017. A source told @amnesty that the woman had cast a spell on the Mozambican Army and refused to reveal a hideout.

While the video appeared on social media a couple of days ago, @amnesty found the video was shared privately on phones on September 7. Their sources think that was the day it was filmed, coinciding with FADM's “mega-operation” to remove insurgents from Awassse and Diaca.

While @amnesty and several Mozambican orgs have called for an impartial investigation, the Defence Ministry goes into full denial mode: this video, and others showing atrocious abuse, were faked. (But all open source verification suggests they're not.) clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambiqu…

Thanks to @_stella_cooper and @heytherehaIey keeping a close eye on Mozambique too for the NYT Visual Investigations team. We keep on monitoring. Feel free to reach out with information and/or suggestions. DMs are open to exchange secure ways of communication.

An important point made here, on (the lack of) blurring a victim's face and body to protect their dignity.

https://twitter.com/into_thefuture/status/1306483474627346432