No, this photo has circulated in reports since 2018 about a man who was attacked in Malaysia

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on December 3, 2019 at 07:45
  • 5 min read
  • By AFP Pakistan
A photo of a severely injured man in hospital has been shared tens of thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook published in November 2019 alongside a claim that it shows a Pakistani comedian who suffered burns in a car accident. The claim is false; the photo has circulated in Malaysian media reports since 2018 about a man attacked in Malaysia; the Pakistani comedian also denied that he had been involved in a car accident in a video shared on Instagram on November 18.

The photo was published in this Facebook post on November 18, 2019. It has been shared more than 15,000 times.

The post's Urdu-language caption translates to English as: “Nasir Chinyoti, the man who brings smiles to people's faces is fighting a battle for life. He is severely burnt in a car accident. Please pray for him. Share the post as someone prayers might work."

Nasir Chinyoti is a Pakistani comedian.

The post includes two photos; one shows Chinyoti, the other shows a man lying on a hospital bed with burns on his face and body. 

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:

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Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post

The photos were shared thousands of times on Facebook here, here and here alongside a similar claim.

The claim is false; the photos do not show the same person. The photo of the injured man has circulated in Malaysian media reports since 2018 about a man who was attacked in Malaysia. It has also circulated in misleading posts in Hong Kong, as debunked here by AFP Hong Kong.

A reverse image search on Google found this article published in Kwong Wah Yit Poh, a Malaysia-based Chinese language newspaper, on September 10, 2018.

Below is a screenshot of the article that features the photo:
 

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A screenshot of the Kwong Wah Yit Poh article

The article’s simplified Chinese-language headline translates to English as: “Stranger breaks into car, man attacked on the face and fire burnt”.

The photo caption reads: “The injured was attacked by a male stranger, and then set on fire on the face, and now in the hospital for treatment.”

The article adds that the incident happened on September 9, 2018 in Jejawi, a town in the Malaysian state of Perlis. The man was reportedly attacked with a flammable liquid and a lighter while in his car. 

Malaysian newspaper Berita Harian also reported on the incident and published the same photo of the injured man here.

Below is a screenshot of the article and the photo:

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A screenshot of the Berita Harian article

Separately, Chinyoti has refuted the claim in the misleading post, clarifying that he was not injured in a car crash. He posted this video on his Instagram page.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Regarding the fake news about my accident.

A post shared by Nasir Chinyoti (@therealnasirchinyoti) on

Chinyoti's comments in Punjabi translate to English as: “It's very bad thing to run such news on social media. It is not a good thing to trouble someone, their family. It is a very bad thing, one should always refrain from such things which can ache anyone's heart or make him worry."

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