Fact Check: Photo of Afghans Altered as Cambodian Female Singers

The Golden Voice of the Kingdom of Cambodia in the early generations of Ros Sereysothea, Pen Ron, and Houy Meas were one of the most famous singers in the 60's until now. Meanwhile, an old photo of three women walking down the street was posted on Facebook. It was claimed that it was a rare photo of the top three pre-1975 Cambodian female singers, Ros Sereysothea, Pen Ron and Huoy Meas walking together to school. This photo was spread by Facebook users and even published on a local online news. However, after running a Google Reverse Image search, it proves that the photo above was actually altered.

This is about our investigation of this claim.

Social Media Claim

On December 2, 2017, one of the Facebook pages called Today-ថ្ងៃនេះ posted a photo of three women walking on the street. It was claimed to be a Cambodian female singer, in which they were known as Ms. Ros Serey Sothea, Ms. Pen Ron, and Ms. Houy Meas. The photo attached with the claim has been shared several times on Facebook.

Below is the screenshot captured from the above Facebook page that reads in Khmer and translates in English as “Civilization of Khmer singers in the 60s and 70s. From left to right: Ms. Ros Sereysothea, Ms. Pen Ron and Ms. Houy Meas”.

Facebook Post | Archived Link

Also, on December 2, 2017, another news website called Dara News also published a photo of the above, claiming in his own report that the three women were Ms. Ros Sereysothea, Ms. Pen Ron, and Ms. Houy Meas.

Additional image captured from the news website that titled "Ros Sereysothea, Pen Ron, and Houy Meas were beautiful, weren’t they?”

Dara News Report | Archived Link

Fact Check

Fact Crescendo Cambodia had started to check and verify this photo directly by running a Google Reverse Image search, which brought us to the sources containing the following photos.

An exact photo was found on the Getty Images website, a British-American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with an archive of over 200 million assets. This website does not show the three female characters to the top Khmer female singer Ros Serey Sothea , Pen Ron, and Houy Meas. This photo was actually taken in 1972. in Kabul, Afghanistan and uploaded in the Getty Images website by Laurence BRUN.

A screenshot captured from Getty Images reads in English as “Women in Afghanistan, 1972: young students wearing mini-skirts walking down the street in the city of Kabul. In the Shar-e-Naü area (the new town), a few emancipated girls wear the mini-skirt, despite the violent critics of the majority of the Afghan people, still attached to Muslim traditions. The Mullah, Muslim religious, do not hesitate to throw acid on the nude legs of the emancipated girl”.

Getty Images | Archived Link

According to another international news website called The Guardian which also published a photo of the photo on its report on August 23, 2017. An image from the Guardian news website, which reads in English as “Young women wearing mini-skirts walking down the street in the city of Kabul, 1972. Photograph: Laurence BRUN / RAPHO”.

The Guardian News Report | Archived Link

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You may find the details of this fact-check in Khmer language here as well.

Conclusion

Fact Crescendo Cambodia has found that the photos posted by the above pages are altered. It was edited before being posted on social media. This photo factually shows the Afghan women walking down the street in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1972.