CLAIM

Viral video of human hands protruding from long parallel graves of people buried alive in Sudan

RATING JUSTIFICATION

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a forensic and AI analysis of the clip.

Multiple accounts have been sharing a video on social media platforms Facebook and X since June 23, 2026, allegedly showing multiple human hands protruding from long parallel graves of people allegedly buried alive in Sudan. However, the clip is AI-generated.

Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since fighting erupted on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). As the war enters its fourth year unabated, Sudan remains the world’s largest internal displacement and hunger crisis. Twelve million people have been forcibly displaced, while tens of millions face acute hunger.

According to the United Nations, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out ethnically targeted killings, widespread sexual violence and enforced disappearances during their late-October takeover of El Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region — acts that a UN fact-finding mission said show “hallmarks of genocide” against the Zaghawa and Fur communities and signal an ongoing risk of further atrocities.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 22, an account that appears pro-PTI, based on its username, shared a video on X that shows many human hands protruding from long parallel graves with the following caption: “In Sudan, people were buried alive in the ground with their hands sticking out … And behind this oppression is Dubai, which is funding it with billions of dollars.”

The post attracted 7.8 million views.

A pro-Iranian user, based on its past posts, shared the same video with a similar context and caption on X. The post gained 83,000 views.

Chairman of the China Democracy Party in exile, Wanjun Xie, shared the same video on X in a similar context with the caption: “In Sudan, people are buried alive, their hands stretched out!”

The post gained 84,000 views.

The video in a similar context was shared by several other users on Facebook and X, as shown here, here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the ongoing crisis in Sudan.

Reviewing the video for visual discrepancies shows that at the 5-second mark, the finger sizes on the hand circled in red appear inconsistent and it seems to have five fingers.

Similarly, at the 8-second mark, one of the hands has also unusually long fingers and more than five fingers clumped and fused.

The viral video was further analysed using AI detection and forensic tools. Hive Moderation flagged the video as 69.8 per cent AI-generated.

Another AI detection tool, TruthScan, flagged the video as AI-generated with 95pc confidence.

Another forensic analysis tool, Deepfake Detection, also labelled it as 70pc AI-generated content.

Similarly, UncovAI, another AI detection tool, labelled it as 90pc AI-generated content.

A keyword search was subsequently conducted to verify whether any credible Sudani or international media outlets had reported on such a video or such a development but yielded no reports.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that the viral video showing dozens of human hands protruding from long parallel graves of people buried alive in Sudan is false.

The video is AI-generated.