Netizens are circulating a photo of lawyer Nicholas Kaufman supposedly smiling after the International Criminal Court rejected the appeal for interim release of his client, former president Rodrigo Duterte who is detained in The Hague, Netherlands. This is edited.
Since Nov. 28, Facebook pages and users have been sharing a photo of the British-Israeli international lawyer supposedly taken when the ICC’s Appeal Chamber upheld the earlier ruling of Pre-Trial Chamber 1 rejecting Duterte’s request.
A FB post on Nov. 29 carried the photo with the caption:
“Reaksyon ni Kaufman nung narinig na rejected na nam(a)n ‘yung interim release ni digong (Kaufman’s reaction when he heard that Digong’s interim release plea was again rejected). #kaufman #InterimRelease.”
Another post carried the text:
“NGITING PANALO NA NAMAN SI ATTY. KAUFMAN! … PALDO NA NAMAN BASTA LAGI LANG NAKAKULONG SI DUTERTE ! PAG WALA NA SA KULUNGAN SI DUTERTE WALANG KITA KAYA DAPAT NASA KULUNGAN LANG (ATTY. KAUFMAN IS SMILING LIKE A WINNER AGAIN! … JACKPOT AGAIN AS LONG AS DUTERTE IS IN JAIL! IF DUTERTE IS NO LONGER BEHIND BARS, THERE IS NO INCOME FOR HIM SO DUTERTE SHOULD JUST STAY IN JAIL)!”
The circulating photo is fabricated. A screenshot from the ICC livestream was edited to make it seem that Kaufman was happy with the decision.
The ICC’s official social media channels livestreamed the entire proceeding. Nowhere in the recording did Kaufman smile.
At the 48-minute and ten-second mark, Kaufman can be seen with a disappointed reaction after Presiding Judge Luz del Carmen Ibañez Carranza affirmed the PTC’s decision rejecting the request. This frame was edited to make it appear that Kaufman smiled as the judge read the decision.
The fabricated photos started circulating the same day the Appeals Chamber unanimously rejected all three grounds presented by the Duterte camp. The former president remains detained at the Scheveningen prison in The Hague, Netherlands, as he awaits the new date of his confirmation of charges hearing, which was initially slated for September. This is still in relation to the alleged crimes against humanity during his administration’s drug war.
VERA Files has debunked several disinformation related to Duterte’s court proceedings in the ICC.
Ten copies of the fake photo posted by FB users and pages such as Pancit Hab-Hab (created on Nov. 13, 2021 as ANG BAYAN KONG MAHAL) and Catholic Faith and Politics (Feb. 11, 2011 as Catholic Faith Defenders, world) collectively garnered 24,268 reactions, 7,259 comments and 1,548 shares.
