In today’s issue (Arabic), al-Ghad published an apology on the front page. Here is the gist of it.
Al-Ghad said Raed al-Banna was not the car bomber of al Hilla and apologized for publishing information without checking it. Al-Ghad apologized as well to the Iraqi people for publishing this information. The paper also condemned the attacks on Sunni and Shia Iraq and stated their support and solidarity with the Iraqi people. Okay at least they apologized, this makes me feel much better. Perhaps I will change my mind about boycotting them.
Also in al Ghad, a Jordanian official denied (Arabic) that the Hilla bomber was Jordanian.
In addition, the father of the alleged bomber sent a letter (Arabic) to al-Ghad that in essence denied his son’s role in al-Hilla, saying that his son left Jordan to work and that he received a phone call informing him that his son was killed in Mosul. He denied organizing what the paper called "a martyr’s wedding" and condemned the attacks on Iraqis. The father said he only received people in his tribe conference hall that had heard the news that his son was killed in one of the districts of Mosul. He also said he plans on suing the satellite stations that ruined his image and that of his family.
The lesson of this fiasco: Irresponsible journalism can result in national scandals. Advice to al-Ghad: Train your journalists!
Before I go, I just discovered a NY Times story following up on these events. Their version follows out much of what I’ve written here, adding some pictures and curious quotes. The full text is also available on the newswire.
hubby, lol im sorry i think u may have lost somewhere there but i think i got the just of what your saying. the father in that paragraph says he recieved a phone call that told him his son had died in mosul and was burried there. so this is the information he has about his son. based on this he made the “logical” conclusion (1+1=2) that his son died in Iraq and therefore died a martyr based on the hadith he quoted.
I don’t know how far this is applicable, considering the prophet pbuh was refering to people like Ja3far ra and others who died far from home while spreading the message.
As far as the father knew, his son was out looking for a job. If he ended up dying in mosul the conclusion would be he had lied to him and had gone off to fight in iraq and died in a “natural” battle i.e. not self-sacrafice as specified by the article, but rather combat which required his “burial”. This conclusion i can see happening but at this point theres know way of knowing till the smoke clears
wa allahu a3lam