Spanish Prosecutors Investigate False Claim of Murder by Moroccan Soccer Fans

A special security system had been set up throughout the Murcia region, which has nearly 100,000 (92,299) Moroccans, according to January 2022 data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). After the victory of their team, many Moroccan supporters took to the streets to express their joy, causing major disturbances in the region, recalls La Provincia de Murcie.

An internet user posted a blog article that day titled "Moroccan supporters kill a Spanish supporter in Cartagena". "José Luis P.N. was walking near Plaza Bastarreche with a Spanish flag when a group of Moroccan supporters approached him and stabbed him to death. José Luis was a family man and manager of a store in Cartagena," it said in the article.

"The facts mentioned never occurred and were created with the intention of inciting hatred and discrimination towards the Moroccan community, the largest foreign community in the Region of Murcia, on the day the Spanish national football team played against the Moroccan team at the World Cup," denounced the Association of Moroccan Workers and Immigrants (ATIM) to the public prosecutor’s office.

Suspecting a hate crime, the prosecutor’s office has asked the National Police of Cartagena to conduct an investigation to discover the identity of the internet user who posted this fake news and all the profiles that relayed it on social networks within a maximum of one month. "We are working to eliminate hate speech towards immigrants and fight these rumors that undermine coexistence in our society," said Sabah Yacoubi, president of ATIM Murcia and vice-president of ATIM Spain.