By Srijit Das
An old news video from 2010 about a Swiss couple who were mocked with religious slurs and abuses by resort staff in Maldives while performing a marriage renewal ceremony for the duo, is being shared by Indian social media users as recent.
BOOM found that the incident took place in 2010, triggering a widespread outrage and prompting the former foreign minister of the Maldives to issue a public apology.
Maldives recently suspended three of its ministers, Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid, for making derogatory remarks against Modi calling him a "clown", "terrorist", and "puppet of Israel". The comments were made under one of Modi's posts about his recent visit to the island of Lakshadweep. Following this, hashtags such as #BoycottMaldives and #SupportIndianIslands are trending, wherein celebrities including Akshay Kumar have responded to the row by condemning the Maldivian ministers' comments and urging Indians to visit Lakshadweep instead.
The row has led to a flurry of misinformation online.
The video is being shared with the caption, "The actual reality of Maldives. Stay away from this Islamic nation."
Click here to view the post.
Click here to view the post.
Fact Check
BOOM did a keyword search related to the incident and found that the same news bulletin had been posted on Irish broadcaster RTE News' YouTube channel on November 1, 2010.
The report was uploaded with a description saying, "A couple were left horrified after they found out that their wedding vow renewal was not as romantic as they thought it was. Instead of blessing the couple, the celebrant cursed and called the couple names in his native language. The couple remained clueless until they posted the video onto youtube."
Additionally, we came across several other news articles from international news outlets that reported on the incident during that period.
The Guardian reported about the incident on October 28, 2010, stating, "The Maldivian foreign minister issued a grovelling public apology today to a Swiss couple who thought they were being blessed at an idyllic beach ceremony but were in fact being referred to as "swine" and "infidels" in the local tongue. The public relations disaster unfolded after someone uploaded a video of the ceremony on YouTube, threatening the Muslim-majority country's reputation as one of the world's most exclusive tourist destinations."
It further added, ""You are swine," the unwitting couple were told. "The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine. Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel and, we have reason to believe, an atheist, who does not even believe in an infidel religion.""
On October 30, 2010, the Maldivian government issued a press release stating that Iruthisham Adam, then serving ambassador at the Maldives embassy in Geneva, personally called the couple who faced verbal abuse by staff at Vilu Reef resort in the Maldives. The press release mentioned that Adam extended the Maldives government's "profound and heartfelt apologies" to the couple in response to the incident.
BBC, on November 4, 2010, reported that the Maldives had implemented "strict" new regulations regarding the conduct of marriage ceremonies, specifying that ceremonies must be completely explained to tourists and conducted in a language of their choice.
The report also mentioned that two arrests were carried out in the aftermath of the scandal, raising concerns about the reputation of the country heavily reliant on tourism.
The identity of the couple was not revealed.
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