AFP Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan authorities found the Muslim surgeon had not performed any sterilisations

Published on 5 July 2019 at 12:00

A month after hundreds of people were killed in Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, a major local newspaper published a report claiming that a Muslim surgeon was a member of a terrorist group linked to the attacks and had secretly sterilised 4,000 Sinhala Buddhist women. The story was picked up by local television channels and widely shared on social media. But the claim is false; a major investigation by Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department found the doctor had not performed any sterilisations; all of Sri Lanka's law enforcement and intelligence agencies have said the doctor has no links to terrorism.

These images actually show a Vietnamese woman who was stung by a scorpion

Published on 4 July 2019 at 09:45Updated on 4 July 2019 at 11:33

Two photos of a badly injured woman have been shared more than a thousand times in a Facebook post alongside a claim that Sri Lanka must stop sending Sri Lankan women into "slavery" as domestic helpers in the Middle East, warning of "the hot water attack". The photos are being used in a misleading context; the images actually show a Vietnamese woman who was stung by a scorpion and suffered a rare medical reaction, according to local media reports and the victim's family.

No, this video does not show an aircraft cabin on a British Airways flight from London to Islamabad

Published on 1 July 2019 at 11:15

A video of a dirty aircraft cabin has been viewed thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter published in June 2019 which claim it shows a British Airways flight from London to Islamabad. The video is being shared in a misleading context; the footage has circulated online since 2016 in reports about a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Jeddah to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

No, this is not a genuine photo of a woman who gave birth to 17 babies

Published on 24 June 2019 at 07:40

Multiple Facebook posts have shared a composite photo featuring two images, one of a heavily-pregnant woman and one of a man surrounded by babies, alongside a claim that the woman has set a new world record by giving birth to 17 boys. The claim is false; the story originated on a satirical website; one of the images has been doctored and the other image is being used out of context; the world record for most children delivered at a single birth to survive is eight, held by American “octomom” Nadya Suleman.

No, these photos do not show Muslims in Sri Lanka who converted to Hinduism after demolishing a mosque

Published on 19 June 2019 at 11:30

Photos of a mosque being destroyed have been shared on Facebook and Twitter around two months after the 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka. The posts contain references to Sri Lankan Muslims converting to Hinduism. The photos are being used in a misleading context; they have been taken from news reports about the mosque’s destruction that do not mention Hinduism; local police told AFP that “no religious conversions took place”.

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