Pages and accounts on social media circulated an image of a comment containing an insult to the Prophet, peace be upon him, attributed to an account bearing the name "Ahmad Moselly", whose owner presented himself as a doctor and academic who graduated from Damascus University, which prompted many to demand that he be held accountable.
The fact-checking team reviewed the circulating account and the claims accompanying it, and it became clear that the account is fake and not genuine. It emerged that a Syrian doctor by the name of "Ahmad al-Mousalli" does in fact exist, but his photograph does not match at all the image used in the offending account. By carrying out a reverse image search on the profile picture of the circulating account, it was revealed that it is stolen and belongs to another Syrian citizen called "Anas Sarsar".
Why is this claim misleading?
Impersonation and identity forgery: The claim rested on a fake account that impersonates a name similar to that of a Syrian doctor and exploits another citizen's photograph and an untrue professional description, in order to attribute offensive comments to a real figure and mislead public opinion.
