No, this is not a photo of a Palestinian father kissing the skull of his dead son

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on November 30, 2018 at 13:11
  • 1 min read
  • By AFP India
Posts on Facebook have shared a photo purporting to show a Palestinian father kissing the skull of his dead son who they allege was killed by the Israeli army. The claims in the posts are false; the image is a 2003 Associated Press photograph of a man in Iraq at a cemetery for people who disappeared during Saddam Hussein’s regime.  

The posts, such as this one, show a man kneeling on the ground and kissing a skull. 
 

Here is a snapshot of one of the false posts, which was shared more than 650 times after being published to Facebook on November 28, 2018.
 

Image
Snapshot of misleading post

The text above the image says: "Heart breaking picture......
A Palestinian father received the dead body of his son after 35 years,who was prison in Israel and killed by Israeli army in prison after 35 years Israeli army hand over dead body of Abu Jannat to his father and father kisses the skull of his son."

The same photo with the same claim can also be found on Twitter, such as this tweet on June 22, 2018.

A reverse image search found the photograph was taken and published by The Associated Press, an international news agency. Here is a link to the AP's page with the photo.

The caption to the AP photo states: "This April 24, 2003 file photo shows Shiite Iraqi man Ghirayer Ali, left, kissing the skull of his son, Rahim, as his remains are unearthed at a former government cemetery for those who "disappeared" during Saddam Hussein's regime and which opened to Iraqi citizens after Hussein was overthrown by the U.S."

Below is a snapshot of the AP’s page with the photo:

Image
Snapshot of AP page

 

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

Contact us