Viral Message:

California wildfires devastated the northern part of the state. Police initially arrested one suspect but released him after an investigation was conducted

eMessage on – Social media and internet

Fact Check by Ayupp– Fake

Viral Message ExampleThe California wildfires devastated the northern part of the state. Police initially arrested one suspect but released him after an investigation was conducted because the investigation led them to the actual person responsible for the fires: a 23-year-old man named Muhammad Islam.

Islam was born in Tehran, Iran and came to the United States in 2015 on a student visa, which expired when he dropped out of Dartmouth in November 2016. Fox News reported Thursday:

Islam was investigated in 2015 when money he sent back home from the United States was flagged as suspicious, but the investigation was closed because the recipient was a family member.

He was also part of radical Islamic groups when he was a teenager, sources at the FBI say. More than 40 Americans have died as a result of the fires.

The FBI says there no no need to “jump to the conclusion” that this was terrorism, but if it walks like a terrorist and it looks like a terrorist it’s probably a terrorist.

Viral Message Verification – The article is published from a satire site FREEDUM JUNKSHUN published this article BREAKING: Illegal Muslim From Iran Arrested For Starting California Wildfire as mentioned in the above viral message example.
This is another fake news circulating for the California wildfire. The image is of Omar al-abed and not of Muhammad Islam from the village of Kobar near Ramallah in the Palestinian territories, an actual terrorist who killed three people. He's not Iranian and was not in California because he is imprisoned in Israel awaiting trial.

Freedum Junkshun carries a satire disclaimer at the bottom of the page which reads:

 

We believe that there is nothing more precious than the mind of an aging conservative. Here we gather a boatload of bullhonkey, works of pure satirical fiction, to give the fist-shakers of the world a reason to hate. Reality is often in the eye of the beholder. You won’t find any of it here.

The article tries to use Iranian terrorist and uses the picture of a Palestinian terrorist in order to fool conservatives into liking and sharing a hoax story is now considered satire.

About The Author

Chetan Sharma is an Indian fact-checker and news writer, writing news for Ayupp since 2014.

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