Fact Check: Viral post on demise of Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi’s daughter is fake
The viral post is fake. Director of Centre for Excellence in Journalism, Pakistan refuted the claims clarifying the rumours about Afridi’s daughter is viral on social media even since 2016.
- By: Abbinaya Kuzhanthaivel
- Published: Dec 18, 2020 at 03:23 PM
- Updated: Dec 20, 2020 at 06:36 PM
New Delhi (Vishvas News). A viral post with a collage of two pictures on social media claims Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi’s daughter died of blood cancer.
Vishvas News investigation revealed the claim is fake. Director of Centre for Excellence in Journalism, Pakistan refuted the claims clarifying the false information is viral on social media even since 2016.
Claim
A collage of two pictures showing a corpse wrapped in white with rose petals and a sleeping girl with Shahid Afridi standing next to her is viral on social media with a claim that Afridi’s daughter died of blood cancer. The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Investigation
Former Pakistan Cricket team Captain Shahid Afridi is well known for his 8064 runs in 398 ODIs and 1416 international runs in 99 T20 Internationals.
Afridi, Pakistan’s legendary player and captain of the Galle Gladiators team in Lanka Premier League (LPL) posted a tweet on 2 December writing, “Unfortunately I have a personal emergency to attend to back home. I will return to join back my team at LPL immediately after the situation is handled.”
While exit from LPL has been the most recent news about Afridi, we searched for news about his daughter. We did not find any authentic reports confirming the viral claim.
We searched for the viral pictures using Google Reverse Image search tool and found them in a fake news alert post on Facebook Page Press9 News. The news alert uploaded on 26 April 2016 states, “Shahid Afridi’s daughter Asmara underwent a dental surgery last month and Shahid made his picture standing along her side…the operation was successfully completed.”
Vishvas News contacted Director at Centre for Excellence in Journalism, Pakistan to verify the claim. “The viral claim is fake. It was a big rumour back in 2016 as well but that was also fake,” he said.
An article in the Geo News also had quoted Shahid Afridi refuting the fake claims about his daughter’s health.
Social scanning of the Facebook user Kavithan Varathan, who shared the viral post, revealed that he is from Kuwait City and is active on Facebook since June 2014.
Conclusion: The viral post is fake. Director of Centre for Excellence in Journalism, Pakistan refuted the claims clarifying the rumours about Afridi’s daughter is viral on social media even since 2016.
- Claim Review : A collage of two pictures showing a corpse wrapped in white with rose petals and a sleeping girl with Shahid Afridi standing next to her is viral on social media with a claim that Afridi’s daughter died of blood cancer
- Claimed By : Facebook user Kavithan Varathan
- Fact Check : False
Know the truth! If you have any doubts about any information or a rumor, do let us know!
Knowing the truth is your right. If you feel any information is doubtful and it can impact the society or nation, send it to us by any of the sources mentioned below.
