In the backdrop of Qatar condemning the derogatory remarks against the Prophet by a BJP spokesperson, a video has surfaced on the Internet, showing Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker. In the video, he is reacting to the plea made by a Twitter user ‘Vashudev’, who had called for a boycott of Qatar Airways.
After as many as 15 Islamic nations, including Qatar, condemned the remarks by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against the Prophet, many special media users called for a boycott of Qatar Airways.
One such user was Vashudev who posted a video on June 6, 2022, in which he appealed to boycott Qatar Airways. But an Al Jazeera interview clip of Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, meantime, has gone viral, in which he could be seen reacting to Vashudev.
In the video, Al Baker can be heard saying that Vashudev is the biggest shareholder in Qatar Airways… and after he threatened to boycott the airline, he (Al Baker) rushed back to Qatar.
The post can be seen here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral clip, and found it to be doctored.
First, on a keyword search, we did not find any statement from Qatar Airways or its CEO on the boycott.
We then extracted keyframes of the video and put them through the Reverse Image Search with keywords such as ‘Qatar Airways’, ‘CEO, ‘Akbar Al Baker’, and ‘Al Jazeera’. And we found the original Al Baker interview on the official YouTube channel of Al Jazeera English was dated June 13, 2017.
The interview was taken by e-interview with Al Jazeera journalist Andrew Simmons about the finances of the global airline.
Now, it can be noticed that the clip from the original interview (0:47 seconds to 3:46 minutes) was extracted and a voice-over was superimposed, using video editing software.
In the original video, the CEO spoke about the airspace ban by some of its neighbouring countries, when they accused Qatar of supporting “terrorism”.
So, it can be concluded that the viral video in question is a spoof of Qatar Airways CEO’s interview from 2017.
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