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FACT CHECK THE ICC PROBE Duterte's Drug war

​VERA FILES FACT CHECK: ICC case vs Duterte NOT ‘thrown out’

Website goodnewstoday.d30.club published June 4 a fabricated story that claims the International Criminal Court (ICC) has junked its case against President Rodrigo Duterte.

The fake news item carried only three elements, none of which reflected its claim:

  • a 2016 Getty Images photo of Duterte;
  • the headline “Kaso Laban Kay Pres Duterte Ibinasura Na Ng International Criminal Court (Case against Pres Duterte thrown out by International Criminal Court),” that when clicked leads to an unrelated article titled “How I Earned $179,000 to Buy a Car of My Dreams in Just Four Months”;
  • an April 13 News5 video of Duterte telling ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda he will have her arrested if she comes to the Philippines.

No legitimate news outfit has reported the alleged junking of the case, nor has the ICC announced any such move. The ICC, through a statement by Bensouda, announced in February it will begin its preliminary examination into allegations of crimes against humanity committed under the Philippine government’s war on drugs. The examination is in response to a complaint filed with the court by Filipino lawyer Jude Sabio in mid-2017.

On March 14, a little over a month after Bensouda’s statement, Duterte announced the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC. Goodnewstoday.d30.club’s story, which could have reached more than 40,000 people, came out almost three weeks after six minority senators asked the Supreme Court to invalidate Duterte’s move because of a lack of concurrence by the Senate through a two-thirds vote.

The story’s biggest traffic generators from social media are Marcos Defenders Worldwide Unlimited and Rody R. Duterte Movement Universal. Goodnewstoday.d30.club has been publishing stories since May 9.

 

(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)

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2018-06-06 08:36:37 UTC