Wire Service Gets Pakistani Protestors Mixed Up

When is a human rights activist not a human rights activist? On Thursday, February 21st, Yahoo posted a picture of Pakistani protestors burning a Danish flag at a rally decrying republication of the Muhammad cartoons. The protestors were labeled by the AP as “human rights activists.”

Except… They weren’t human rights activists. A corrected caption was sent out over the weekend that also corrected the date typo shown above:

Caption:

** CORRECTS PROTESTER’S GROUP AFFILIATION ** Supporters of Al Fareed Welfare Society burn a Danish flag at a protest rally to show their anger over the reproduction of Prophet Muhammad cartoons in Denmark, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008, in Gujaranwala, Pakistan.(AP Photo/Aftab Rizvi)

Summary
Date: 02/23/2008 02:14 AM
Slug: CORRECTION Pakistan Denmark

Now, if only we could find some trace of the Al Fareed Welfare Society. No information is available on the internet, but Gujaranwala (usually spelled Gujranwala) is a Pakistani university town located outside of Lahore. That’s something at least.

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