On social media Facebook and TikTok An image is circulating with a photograph of Rifat Jashari, the brother of Adem and Hamëz Jashari, accompanied by the caption that he addressed the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, with the words: "You will pay dearly for hugs and kisses with Vučić from Kosovo, remember."
Publications present this quote as an authentic statement by Jashari to Rama.
What is known?
After verification conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the claim is false.
Research shows that this content is not new. The same claim has been circulating on Facebook since the year 2021, when it was published by various social media sites (see here). Even then it was covered by hibrid.info.
Hibrid.info verified the claim and found that there was no evidence that Rifat Jashari had made such a statement (see here).
Even in the current verification, no credible source has been found to support this claim. Searches of Rifat Jashari's public statements, credible media reports, and other verifiable sources yield no results confirming that he ever said: "You will pay dearly for hugs and kisses with Vučić from Kosovo, remember".
The claim continues to circulate exclusively in the form of an image with text on social media, without being accompanied by any interview, video, public statement or other source that would prove its authenticity.
Analyze
The claim that Jashari declared to Rama: "You will pay dearly for hugs and kisses with Vučić from Kosovo, remember that," is false.
The same claim was verified by hibrid.info in 2021 and found to be unsupported by any facts or evidence. The current verification also reaches the same conclusion that there is no public statement, interview or credible source proving that Rifat Jashari has made such a statement.
The return of this claim after several years shows that false content is constantly recycled on social media to create the impression that these are new or authentic statements.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "Fake News".
rationale
The “Fake News” rating is given to informational content that is entirely fabricated or that contains factually incorrect claims or information. Content that is rated as fake news can be defined as having been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.