(With translation by Heba Fahmy)
Qatar was briefly in the spotlight this morning after a shooting in San Bernardino, California left 14 people dead at a social services center.
The incident unfolded throughout the afternoon and evening there on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
Police killed two suspects – a man and a woman, who have been identified as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27. According to the New York Times, the couple was married and had a baby daughter.
However, the police initially wrongly identified the first suspect as Syed Raheel Farook. Shortly after that, a second named appeared on Twitter and was broadcast repeatedly on Fox News:
Despite the fact that the name looked like a bastardized form of the Turkish president’s name – rather than one with Arabic origins – the story spread far and fast, especially on conservative American websites.
Questions about the credibility of that line started immediately:
I sincerely doubt one of the shooters was named Tayyip bin Erdogan. Come on, people.
— Hamega Supreme (@hamzadawud) December 3, 2015
Fake name of terror suspect looks like mix of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, with Bin Laden. Prank by an Erdogan enemy perhaps?
— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) December 3, 2015
And police debunked the story barely half an hour later:
SB police clarifying that 2nd name was not released by them. Appears now to be a hoax. We are disregarding.
— Rick Serrano (@RickSerranoLAT) December 3, 2015
This caused those who’d help share the story to backtrack:
LATimes reporter deleted his tweet saying a 29-year-old Qatar citizen was named as a #SanBernardino suspect
— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) December 3, 2015
Sgt. Cervantes flatly denies #sanbernardino PD is source of names of any suspects. Said the dept did not release name Tayyeep Bin Ardogan.
— Ken Bensinger (@kenbensinger) December 3, 2015
Then the flat-out mockery began:
@LisaDaftari @smitaprakash @FoxNews can't u get the joke Tayyip Erdogan is president of Turkey.R you a journalist or a hack @MiddleEastEye
— Khaled Almaeena (@KhaledAlmaeena) December 3, 2015
At this point we might as well report the suspect’s name is Keyser Söze. Sheesh.
— Andy Carvin (@acarvin) December 3, 2015
Be on the lookout for Mustafa bin Hummus and his cousin Sheik Yerbouti. #SeeSomethingSaySomething
— Andy Carvin (@acarvin) December 3, 2015
https://twitter.com/roqchams/status/672292677807927297
In Qatar, there was little surprise:
انظروا إلى الغباء والجهل الأمريكي: المشتبه به الثاني في حادث #اطلاق_نار_في_كاليفورنيا قطري ويدعى "طيب بن اردوغان" https://t.co/qIc2dJJrCK
— Reem Al-Harmi ريم الحرمي chez moi ? (@Reem_AlHarmi) December 3, 2015
(Translation: See the American ignorance and stupidity, the name of the second defendant in the California shooting is ”Tayyip Bin Erdogan.”)
الظاهر اللي الف الاسم كان يتابع زيارته حق جامعة قطر ????
https://t.co/I4OwbTz9R8— راشد القطري ?? |المرحلة الـ3️⃣ (@Rashid_Alkuwari) December 3, 2015
Translation: It seems like that the person who made up his name was following up on his (President Erdogan’s) visit to Qatar University.
Thoughts?
