Video of Jordanian Public Official’s Raid is Outdated
The Claim
The house of a Jordanian representative was raided due to breached COVID-19 rules.
News posted on
Emerging story
A video is currently trending in the MENA and was recently published on a news website claiming that Khaled Alshaloul’s house was raided. Alshaloul is a member of the Jordanian House of Representatives for the Irbid District.
The posts claim that Alshaloul’s house in Irbid was raided by Jordanian law enforcement because he was hosting a dinner party, which is forbidden under the current laws due to Covid-19.
They further claim that guests were taken to the police station for further investigation and prosecution. The video shows uniformed, armed personnel raiding a home, firing bullets, and making arrests.
Users seemed pleased that the law was being imposed on everyone equally, including government officials.
Misbar’s Analysis
Despite being widely spread and shared by a verified account on Twitter with over half a million followers, Misbar found the posts to be misleading.
Upon investigation, we found that the video had been uploaded on the 12th and 13th of November 2020 on multiple sources including here, here, and here.
The Irbid News page on Facebook shared the story that Alshaloul’s father’s house was raided in Irbid using excessive force, tear gas, and rubber bullets despite no resistance and the presence of children and elderly.
Witnesses confirmed the story and law enforcement later released a statement that the raid was due to a gathering which had been reported, which led to the arrest of 8 people.
Alshaloul had won the 19th House of Representative elections to represent the first district of Idrib a day before the gathering, on November 11 2020, indicating this may have been a celebratory gathering.
The claims come at the same time that two Jordan ministers resigned following criticism of breaching Coronavirus gathering rules.
Although the video is real and some elements of the claims are true, it is misleading to circulate it as current news, when it occurred over three months ago.
