Protest leads to arrest of JNU student Najeeb Khan in Hyderabad

In December 2015, a photo of an individual standing near a wall painted with the black flag commonly used by Islamic State militants in the town of Tal Ksaiba was published by the International Business Times. The article, titled "Iraq: The battle to regain control of Tikrit from ISIS rages on," did not specify the exact location where the photo was taken. However, the individual in the photo was later identified as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.

The mistake in identification arose when, in 2019, the photo was used in a Twitter post by Narendra Modi, referencing the individual in the photo as Najib Ahmad. It was later revealed that Najib Ahmad was a student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2016. The exact year the photo was taken is not specified, but it was before October 2016, as Najib Ahmad was a student at JNU in that year.

The confusion surrounding the identity of the individual in the photo was further compounded when, in October 2016, Najib Ahmad was captured in a raid at an unspecified location. The reason for the raid is not mentioned in the provided text. The report stated that the individual captured in the raid was identified as Najib Ahmad, a student from JNU. However, the outcome or further details about the individual captured in the raid are not provided in the text.

The misidentification of Najib Ahmad as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the 2015 International Business Times article was later reported by Alt News in an article in 2019. The exact location of the raid is not specified in the provided text. It is unclear how the initial mistake was made, but it serves as a reminder of the potential for misinformation in war zones and the importance of accurate reporting.