A meme trending on Facebook in Kenya shows a man being held by two police officers, with the claim he took gruesome revenge on his small daughter’s rapist.
The meme’s text reads: “This Soweto father tracked down the man who raped his 3-year-old daughter, tied him to a tree, cut off the rapist's penis, and forced him to eat it.”
Soweto is a township in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city.
But a reverse image search suggests the story may have been cooked up.
The photo appears in 24 February 2017 reports on the Daily Mail and the Sun about police action after violent clashes between locals and immigrants in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital.
“A South African resident is arrested by police after allegedly looting and clashing with foreign residents during a xenophobic march by the Mamelodi Concerned Residents through the streets of Pretoria,” the photo is captioned in the Sun’s report.
It’s credited to EPA, the European Pressphoto Agency.
Africa Check found the photo on the EPA website.
Its caption here reads: “A South African resident is arrested by police after allegedly looting and clashing with foreign residents during a xenophobic march by the Mamelodi Concerned Residents through the streets of Pretoria, South Africa, 24 February 2017.”
It was taken by photographer Kim Ludbrook for EPA in Pretoria – Dancan Bwire
The meme’s text reads: “This Soweto father tracked down the man who raped his 3-year-old daughter, tied him to a tree, cut off the rapist's penis, and forced him to eat it.”
Soweto is a township in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city.
Arrest after looting, clashes with immigrants
But a reverse image search suggests the story may have been cooked up.
The photo appears in 24 February 2017 reports on the Daily Mail and the Sun about police action after violent clashes between locals and immigrants in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital.
“A South African resident is arrested by police after allegedly looting and clashing with foreign residents during a xenophobic march by the Mamelodi Concerned Residents through the streets of Pretoria,” the photo is captioned in the Sun’s report.
It’s credited to EPA, the European Pressphoto Agency.
Africa Check found the photo on the EPA website.
Its caption here reads: “A South African resident is arrested by police after allegedly looting and clashing with foreign residents during a xenophobic march by the Mamelodi Concerned Residents through the streets of Pretoria, South Africa, 24 February 2017.”
It was taken by photographer Kim Ludbrook for EPA in Pretoria – Dancan Bwire
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Further Reading
[email protected]: The challenges of working across Africa
Misinformation knows no borders and Africa Check often responds to similar false claims from country to country.
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