TheCable

Government officials in Eritrea say news that made the rounds on Eritrean men being forced to marry two wives or face imprisonment, are completely false.

In 2016, the news that Eritrean men were forced to marry at least two wives was first published in “Crazy Monday,” a satirical column from Kenyan news site, The Standard.

This sparked a frenzy on social media, with various news organisations reporting the story, giving vent to its wide reach.

Yemane Gebremeskel, information minister of Eritrea said that the story being peddled was absolute falsehood.

In a tweet, Gebremeskel said, “the media frenzy to parrot this ludicrous, fabricated and trite story of the Mufti’s presumed religious decree on mandatory polygamy is appalling”.

“The story illustrates vileness of the dark forces of disinformation and proclivity of others to readily embrace the negative narrative on Eritrea,” he said in another tweet.

David Ohito, digital editor of The Standard was demoted for the role he played in approving the story along with another hoax on miniskirt ban in Tanzania.