Fact Check: Old video of mentally ill person’s arrest in Saudi Arabia linked to Israel-Hamas conflict
The video is from 2018 and is being falsely linked to the Hamas-Israel conflict.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 11 Nov 2023 12:00 PM GMT
Screengrab of the post making the false claim. (Source: Facebook)
Hyderabad: A video allegedly showing an arrest of an Imam in Saudi Arabia is in circulation on social media, with users claiming that he was arrested for supporting the cause of Palestine.
A Facebook user shared the video with the caption, “The Saudis arrested an Imam who called for a war with Israel. The bootlicking Saudi Arabia and Jordan corrupt leaders are now protecting and helping Israel more than the US itself.”
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the video is from 2018 and is being falsely linked to the Hamas-Israel conflict.
On performing a reverse image search, we found the video on Facebook, posted by an account named Media Watchdog on March 3, 2018. This shows that the incident in the video is not recent.
We also found a report on the incident published by Akhbaar 24, which carried a screengrab from the video. The report said that the viral clip showed security personnel stopping a mentally ill person who tried to deliver the Friday sermon from the mosque’s pulpit. The incident reportedly occurred at the Jabriya Mosque in Saudi’s Yanbu al-Bahr in March 2018.
Another news outlet Al Riyadh reported that the official spokesman of Medina police, Major Hussein Al-Qahtani, has confirmed that the man has been suffering from psychological disorders. He was handed over to his family for the complete treatment.
Another publication, Al Yaum, which carried the screengrab from the video, also reported the incident with the same details.
Hence, we conclude that the video is from 2018 and does not show an Imam getting arrested in Saudi for supporting Palestine amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
