Fact Check: Is this image of smiling man who died while protecting Al-Aqsa?

A photo of a man wrapped in a white cloth is making the rounds on the social media, with the claim that he is a martyr.

Those sharing the image said that the man died smiling while protecting the Al-Aqsa Mosque from blasts and attacks. This brother died while protecting Masjid Al-Aqsa Mosque from blast and attacks, Muslims honoured him as a martyr, look the smile at his face," wrote one user on Facebook while sharing the image.

The image that is being shared is however not a recent one. It is an image from 2014 shot at an orientation programme about funeral management. A reverse4 image search of the viral photo led us to a blog post from October 2014. The post was titled,"Activities of KPTM."

The Kolej Poly-Tech MARA (PMTM) is a private institute that was established in September 2003. It has seven branches, including one at the university level in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Screenshot 2023-04-11 at 11.15.38 AM.png

The post on the blog was written by one person who attended the Rehlah Al-Khulud, a programme that taught funeral management to students KPTM. The event was aimed at giving awareness about funeral management techniques such as bathing the body, preparing Kafan and performing funeral prayers in the right manner.

The post also carried five photographs of boys watching the preparation of the Kafan for the boy. He can be seen lying on the sheet with different facial expressions in different photos. This clearly suggests that this was just a college event and not the funeral of the martyr.

A further search led us to a Facebook post boy one Haris Sebiey in which the event at KTPM was mentioned. The same image has been shared by many others, which clearly give the indication the viral image claiming it to be that of a martyr is false.