ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday said that a video that went viral on social media purporting to show a Pakistani man being beaten to death in China is fake.
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari took to Twitter and shared the FO statement.
“I spoke to our Ambassador in Beijing earlier this morning and he said the video of the Pak student circulating was ‘not authentic’ and a press release had been issued. Tragic,” she wrote.
I spoke to our Amb in Beijing earlier this morning and he said the video of the Pak student circulating was “not authentic” and a press release had been issued. Tragic. Copy of press statement below: pic.twitter.com/sUseDD3xmR
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) November 19, 2018
“A Pakistani student Usama Ahmad Khan committed suicide in Shenyang city of the Liaoning province in China. He was a student of Shenyang Jianzhu University,” the FO statement clarified.
According to the FO statement, the video showing a Chinese woman crying over a dead body was not of the Pakistani student.
“The video being circulated on social media is fake and is not that of Usama Ahmad Khan. We request all to help us in exercising caution in such matters, avoiding sensationalism and stop spreading of ‘fake news’.”
According to the Foreign Office, a Pakistan embassy official had met with students and administration of the university and also met with police.
“Throughout this process, he remained in close contact with the family of the deceased and got full support from the Chinese authorities,” the statement elaborated.
Usama’s body was shifted from Liaoning to Beijing on November 17 and later to Pakistan by PIA flight PK-853.