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  • 2019-04-25 (xsd:date)
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  • No, this is not a photo of a child with an iron rod in her eye who needs surgery (en)
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  • A photo of a small girl and a crying man has been shared tens of thousands of times in a Facebook post that claims the child needs surgery after getting an iron rod stuck in her eye. The claim is false; the photo shows a Yemeni man holding his daughter after she was killed in an airstrike in 2015. The image was contained in this Facebook post, which has been shared more than 180,000 times since it was published on April 22, 2018. It contains text in Hindi which translates to English as: There is an iron rod in the middle of this child's eye and the parents have no money for the surgery. If you share this, then they will get one Indian rupee per share. So friends share it with full power and be a part of this good deed. Below is a screenshot of the post: GRAPHIC IMAGE Show Screenshot of misleading post Hide The same image and claim were also shared here on a Hindi-langauge social network called ShareChat. But the claim is false; the child seen in the photo is dead. A reverse image search on Google led to this article on the website of Catherine Shakdam, who describes herself on the site as a geopolitical analyst and commentator for the Middle East. The article, dated August 28, 2016, and also published here by the Huffington Post, is headlined: A father’s cry – Yemen’s war victim calls for legal actions against Saudi Arabia. In the article, Shakdam states that she interviewed the man in the photo, Ibrahim Abdulkarim, about the death of his daughter Zainab in the Yemeni capital Sana’a. Further Google and Facebook searches in English and Arabic found this post published by Abdulkarim on his Facebook page on February 26, 2016, which contains the same photo as in the false post. Below is a comparison between screenshots of the false post (L) and the original post on Abdulkarim’s Facebook page (R): GRAPHIC IMAGE Show Comparison of image in false Facebook post (L) and original post (R) Hide The Arabic-language caption on Abdulkarim’s post says, translated to English: O God, accept our sacrifice, O God. The last picture with my martyr daughter Zainab – in the refrigerator of the 'revolution hospital' in Sana'a. She was killed by Saudi Arabia-led coalition airforces. Other posts on Abdulkarim’s Facebook page state that his daughter was killed in Sana’a on July 3, 2015, for example this one dated July 6, 2015, and this one dated March 7, 2016. His post embedded below, dated July 7, 2016, shows the pair on an unspecified date before the airstrike: Abdulkarim’s story has been reported by multiple international media organisations, for example here by American broadcaster PRI and here in The Guardian. When asked whether they ever paid for likes or shares of posts, Facebook told AFP in a statement: We have clear policies about authenticity in our Community Standards, that state we do not allow people to use misleading or inaccurate information to collect likes, followers, or shares. We encourage anyone who encounters this on Facebook to report it. In this Facebook post dated December 27, 2017, Abdulkarim addresses the false posts that say Facebook will donate money to the child. The Arabic-language caption says, translated to English: Someone is using my daughter Zeinab's image to beg. He's saying that she's sick and needs treatment. I tell the one who's begging with a martyred child photo, fear God. And I ask you to help me in finding this page on Facebook. Below is a screenshot of that Facebook post: GRAPHIC IMAGE Show Screenshot of Facebook post dated December 27, 2017 Hide (en)
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