As Muslims observe the holy month of Ramadan, an article going viral on Facebook reports reports that a man in Pakistan has been sentenced to death for farting in a mosque during this holy period.
“The judge declared that he had indisposed people of the faith and even caused 53 people at one time to leave the mosque during a prayer,” the article says.
The story was shared on a Facebook page with over 395,000 followers, getting 937 reactions and more than 1,200 comments and 400 shares.
It was also shared on a Kenyan Facebook group with more than 265,000 members and on Ghanaian radio station Nhyira 104.5’s page, which has some 910,000 followers.
But a reverse image search reveals that the picture in the story is of a Canadian man sentenced to 13 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend.
In March 2018 the Ottawa Citizen, a daily newspaper in Canada, reported that the man in the photo, Behnam Yaali, 25, had pleaded guilty to killing his former girlfriend Christina Voelzing in 2016 in what it called “a rekindled connection and an ego-driven feud between two men”.
And the farting in mosque story is one of many pieces of fiction published on World News Daily Report, a known satirical website.
The story has already been checked and found to be satirical by AFP Fact-check and the Quint, an English and Hindi language Indian news website.
The satirical website has a disclaimer in its footer.
“World News Daily Report assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content,” it reads.
“All characters appearing in the articles in this website – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.”
Africa Check previously checked another story on website that was shared by Facebook users and rated it satire. – Dancan Bwire (31/05/2019)
“The judge declared that he had indisposed people of the faith and even caused 53 people at one time to leave the mosque during a prayer,” the article says.
The story was shared on a Facebook page with over 395,000 followers, getting 937 reactions and more than 1,200 comments and 400 shares.
It was also shared on a Kenyan Facebook group with more than 265,000 members and on Ghanaian radio station Nhyira 104.5’s page, which has some 910,000 followers.
Man in photo Canadian convict
But a reverse image search reveals that the picture in the story is of a Canadian man sentenced to 13 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend.
In March 2018 the Ottawa Citizen, a daily newspaper in Canada, reported that the man in the photo, Behnam Yaali, 25, had pleaded guilty to killing his former girlfriend Christina Voelzing in 2016 in what it called “a rekindled connection and an ego-driven feud between two men”.
Website publishes satirical content and fictional articles
And the farting in mosque story is one of many pieces of fiction published on World News Daily Report, a known satirical website.
The story has already been checked and found to be satirical by AFP Fact-check and the Quint, an English and Hindi language Indian news website.
The satirical website has a disclaimer in its footer.
“World News Daily Report assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content,” it reads.
“All characters appearing in the articles in this website – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.”
Africa Check previously checked another story on website that was shared by Facebook users and rated it satire. – Dancan Bwire (31/05/2019)
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You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
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