Pages and accounts on social media circulated a report whose publishers alleged the killing of Jamal Salman al-Hijri, brother of Hikmat al-Hijri, during an armed clash with a group of National Guard members, over a dispute related to a drug shipment.
The fact-checking team reviewed the circulating claim through keyword searches and by consulting local sources, in addition to contacting the platform correspondent directly, and found that Jamal al-Hijri died after suffering a heart attack abroad in Venezuela, and not as a result of a scuffle or armed clash with National Guard members as had been promoted.
Why is this claim misleading?
Fabricated news: The claim invented an account of Jamal al-Hijri being killed in an armed clash tied to a drug shipment, whereas the true cause of his death was a heart attack in Venezuela, in order to distort the circumstances of his death, inflame rumors, and mislead public opinion.
