Dubai: An Iraqi family didn’t know that a smiling emoji on Facebook would end up with the death of the family’s head and injuries to two others.
According to Iraqi media, a smiling emoji that was mistakenly put on a photo of someone who died a year ago caused relatives to attack one another, resulting in the death of at least one person.
Reports quoting well-informed sources said that the family of the dead person posted a picture of him on Facebook to mark the anniversary of his death. However, one of the victims’ kids, who does not know how to read or write, put a happy emoji to the picture while playing with the phone, infuriating the family of the deceased person.
The victim’s relatives told local media that they were taken by surprise by an armed attack last Wednesday, which ended up with the death of the family head and injuries to his brother and nephew.
The victim’s family said that there had never been any issues between them and the other family, adding that the victim had just recently visited the perpetrators of the crime to mark the one-year anniversary of the passing of one of their family members.
A video published by Iraqi media showed hundreds of people mourning the victim and laying him to rest. The incident has caused an uproar on social media, with so many netizens calling on competent authorities to take action against the perpetrators of the shocking crime.
