On Sunday evening, Russian authorities announced that deposed Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad had been granted asylum in Russia and was staying in Moscow with his family after rebels overthrew his decades-long rule.
However, Hungarian news outlet Mandiner accused Hungary’s opposition leader Péter Magyar and the Magyar Hang internet portal — an open supporter of Magyar — of spreading fake news throughout the day by claiming that Assad was in Budapest after they said a mysterious Syrian plane landed at Ferihegy on Saturday evening.
“It seems that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator who has been in power for 24 years and supported by the Russians, has fallen and fled Syria. Meanwhile, on Dec. 2, Viktor Orbán received the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ephrem II at the Carmelita, who tried to gain support for the Syrian dictator to remain in power through the Hungarian prime minister,” Magyar wrote on his social media accounts.
“Last night, in complete secrecy, under the protection of the Counter-Terrorism Center, a Syrian passenger plane landed at Liszt Ferenc Airport after Assad left Syria. We demand that they make public what assistance Viktor Orbán has provided in recent years and especially in the last week to the fallen Syrian dictator, who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands. We demand that they make public who arrived from Syria to Budapest on the secret plane last night!” he added.
It quickly transpired that the image aired by Magyar Hang had been taken 12 years ago in Turkey. No Syrian plane landed in Hungary on Saturday. The newspaper apologized to its readers for the error, but Péter Magyar has not.
Mandiner sent questions about the matter to the Government Information Center, which told the news outlet that a false report appeared on Sunday morning that a Syrian plane had landed at Budapest Airport.
“The article, which contained false information in every element, used a photograph showing the servicing of a flight to Ankara in 2012. The article also claimed that the president, who had fled Syria, had arrived in Hungary on Saturday evening. This information was also a grave lie. However, the fake news published in the Hungarian press and by Péter Magyar — which is still out there on the Tisza Party president’s page — is capable of endangering Hungary’s security,” the center stated.
Hungarian countermeasures agencies have been tasked with uncovering the background behind the fake news that has also attracted the attention of the international press, as such serious disinformation can pose a national security risk and increase the threat of terrorism in our country.
“The competent authorities are taking every step to prevent such fake news and mitigate the risks arising from it. This was also the case yesterday,” the Government Information Center added.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has launched a national security investigation with immediate effect to determine whose interests were served by the production and keeping of the news on the agenda. The results of this investigation will be reported to the National Security Committee of the Parliament.
