Viral Video Falsely Claims Moroccan Imam Died During Friday Sermon

Several Facebook and Twitter accounts have shared a video that would show the death of a Moroccan imam during his sermon on January 6 during the Friday prayer. In this video, we see an imam dressed in white lower his voice more and more during his sermon, interrupt himself, before visibly losing consciousness. Several people rush to his aid. "The imam of the Omar ibn al-Khattab mosque in Morocco died on Friday while he was on the minbar [the platform from which sermons are given, editor’s note]," claims this account that shares the images, viewed more than 2,700 times on January 11.

The editorial staff of Les Observateurs de France 24 proceeds to verify the facts. By doing a reverse image search from the video, it comes across Al-Nas who published an article on the subject, dated January 2. According to the site, the imam is not dead, but "is doing well after his hospitalization". He took care to specify that the incident occurred "at the Omar ibn al-