False news of loved one's death
Misinformation on Facebook leads to distress for Qaladize family
QALADIZE – A family in Qaladize, in Kurdistan’s Sulaymaniyah province, experienced major distress on March 14 due to the dissemination of false news on Facebook, erroneously claiming that one of their relatives had perished in a traffic accident in the United Kingdom.
Mahdi Rasul, the brother of the falsely reported deceased, Jamal Rasul, recounted to 964media how the rumor began.
He said, “At 4:00 am, while we were preparing for Suhur [early Ramadan morning meal], we received screenshot messages from two pages claiming that my brother Jamal had died in a traffic accident and that his body was at a mosque in Derby city.”
Initially propagated by two England-based Kurdish-language pages, the news was quickly spread by local pages in Qaladize without verification, leading to a night of unrest in Rasul family’s home.
Mahdi added that after the family informed their relatives in the U.K. to follow up on the news and contacted the British police, it was confirmed that the report was false.
Jamal, the individual falsely rumored to have died, also spoke to 964media, expressing his dismay over the situation. He said on the night the news of his death was circulated, his phone was on silent mode as he was sleeping. He woke up to numerous calls and saw that some pages had posted his picture, claiming he had died in a traffic accident.
“It was distressing to see my family go through such agony overnight, experiencing intense grief and anxiety,” said Jamal, who has been living in the U.K. for seven years. “The posts were made for likes and comments, and we hold no grudges against anyone. I hope those pages will refrain from posting unverified information.”