WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Found Dead in London-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been found dead in a London alley.
The Truth:
False reports that Julian Assange has been found dead in London started with a fake news website.
The site, Daily Info Box, published the story under the headline, “Julian Assange Found Dead in London Alley,” on April 13, 2017. The story begins:
After being kidnapped from the Ecuadorian embassy in the early morning hours, Julian Assange’s body was found tossed away like garbage in a London alley. Investigators from Scotland Yard are currently working with MI5 and the United States FBI to figure out exactly what transpired here today.
Obviously, Assange has many enemies, none who would want to see him dead than Hillary Clinton. According to Chief Investigator Nigel Hollister, Assange wasn’t simply kidnapped and killed; he endured what looks like hours of advanced interrogation techniques. His finger and toenails had been removed and his testicles were crushed with what may have been a small sledgehammer.
Intelligence agencies are now combing through the crime scenes both int he alley and in the room in the embassy he occuped for nearly five years to see if they can find any evidence of the attackers, who aer now wanted for three counts of murder, conspiracy, torture and kidnapping. So far not a single piece of DNA, fiber or fingerprint have been recovered.
The Julian Assange death hoax was widely circulated on social media sites, leading many to believe that it was an accurate report. However, the disclaimer for the Daily Info Box states that its posts are for “entertainment purposes only” and that the site “does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information.”
Besides that, a photo of police officer standing guard over what appears to be a crime scene in an alley that accompanies the Julian Assange death hoax actually shows an officer standing in a London alley after the body of a missing Irish student was found there in 2014.
Given the website’s lack of credibility, and the misused photo of a police officer in an alley, we’re calling this rumor “fiction.”