Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Muslim immigrant thrashes doctor in Spain for asking his wife to remove hijab for medical examination
Fact
2021 video of man beating up a dermatologist in Russia for making an inappropriate comment to his wife
A video, purportedly showing a man thrashing a doctor in a clinic in Spain, has gone viral. Several social media users are claiming that a “local doctor was attacked by an immigrant for asking his wife to remove her hijab for medical examination.”
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here, here and here.
Fact check
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Spain doctor assault hijab”, which did not throw up any relevant results.
However, we came across this RT report, dated September 28, 2021 and featuring the viral video, stating that a man was placed under house arrest in Russia after he beat up and concussed a doctor for complimenting her skin while inspecting her. “The woman, a hijab-wearing Muslim, claimed the dermatologist dubbed her skin ’beautiful’. The incident took place on September 21 in Nizhnevartovsk, Siberia,” the article read, adding that the woman had complained to her Tajikistan-born husband that the medical examination had not complied with “Muslim law”.
Similar articles can be here and here, confirming that the viral video is of an incident that happened in Russia in 2021.
Conclusion
A 2021 video of a man beating up a doctor in Russia for “speaking inappropriately” to his wife falsely claimed to be of a Muslim immigrant assaulting a doctor in Spain for asking his wife to remove hijab for medical examination.
Result: Missing Context
Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
