Thread by @SomaliaWatchdog

🚨 #FactCheck conclusion: the claim in the tweet below, about a press statement of the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab purportedly endorsing the #BlueRevolution in Sool, is FAKE.

(🧵 thread)

The statement in question first appeared on a Facebook account with the name “Andulus Medina [sic]”.

(Note the spelling of the name “Andulus”, NOT “Andalus”. Also, “Medina” OR “Media”?)

“Andulus Medina” seems to have joined Facebook in the past 24 hours (or has deleted its previous content and has been renamed for this purpose). Their first publicly accessible post was uploaded today at 12:40 AM (EAT).

The post is, predictably, advocating for Jihad.

At 7:48 AM (7 hours and 8 minutes after it uploaded its first post), the account posted the purported Al-Shabaab statement that allegedly endorsed the #BlueRevolution taking place in Sool, Somalia.

The letterhead used for the fake statement is a photoshopped copy based on an actual Al-Shabaab statement claiming responsibility for murders in Mogadishu a day earlier (February 7).

📄 Photoshop: red marks.
📄 Actual: green marks.

(Not the terrible Arabic text marked in red😂)

Al-Shabaab terrorists run several websites that regularly publish their news and press releases.

This screenshot, taken today at 5:30 PM (EAT), from the group’s most prominent mouthpiece website doesn’t show any press statement endorsing the revolution in Sool.

Predictably, former Hirshabelle president @HShPrez2Ware, currently affiliated with Matt Bryden’s Sahan Research propaganda machine, shared the fake statement linking the #BlueRevolution to Al-Shabaab.

When challenged, Ware quietly deleted the tweet without apologising.