April Fool's aliens spark panic in Jordanian town

Tuesday, 6 April 2010 10:01 AM

NOT MUCH FUN: A still from sci-fi movie Independence Day illustrates just why townspeople might have been afraid.

An April Fool's Day prank in a Jordanian newspaper backfired spectacularly when townspeople panicked amid fear they were under threat of alien attack.

The mayor of Jafr, in eastern Jordan, has said he is considering suing daily newspaper Al-Ghad after it reported that flying saucers flown by three metre-tall space creatures had landed and that communication networks had been severed.

According to the Associated Press, Mayor Mohammed Mleihan alerted the security forces who then combed the area in an unsuccessful hunt for the intergalactic interlopers.

"Students didn't go to school, their parents were frightened and I almost evacuated the town's 13,000 residents," Mleihan told the newswire. “People were scared that aliens would attack them."

The managing editor of Al-Ghad, Moussa Barhoumeh, apologised for the stunt and said that the newspaper was simply having a little fun.

"We meant to entertain, not scare people," he said.

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Posted by: Paul Wednesday, 7 April 2010 4:54 PM[UAE]

Of course, it does illustrate a wider regional problem, in that people tend to believe things unquestioningly. It's why it's possible to con people into thinking they can make their money multiply or that Singer sewing machines contain red mercury, or that if they buy 1000Dhs worth of Etisalat recharge cards and give the numbers away they'll win a prize. Granted, April Fool's Day is not a common custom in this part of the world but would it really hurt to apply a little critical though once on a while? People might find that there are even more made-up things in the press than aliens - and that there's nothing funny about it.

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Posted by: Reem A. Wednesday, 7 April 2010 10:58 AM[UAE] - Jordan

people, lighten p ,i read this article first thing in the morning that day and took me a while to realize that it was April 1st. if you were in Jordan and read one of our newspapers , u'll be amazed by the sum of horrific articles, we just need a smile. but Seriously aliens in Jordan , this is the first of its kind in the Middle East BTY AlGhad clarified the next day that the article was a PRANK

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Posted by: John Gosling Tuesday, 6 April 2010 6:51 PM[UAE]

As the author of a book about mass panics (Waging the War of the Worlds) I find it very interesting that this appears to be the first time such a thing has happened in the Middle East. While I suspect this was a fairly harmless event, I do argue in my book that there is every chance that something similar to the Orson Welles War of the Worlds panic could happen again. I imagine that had this been a Jordian radio station that had pulled this stunt, things could have been a lot worse. I feel that countries in the Middle and Far East with populations unlikely to have encountered stories about past panics in the west are particularly at risk, though it should be noted that the last major radio panic was in 1998 in Europe and we've had a few close shaves since. I'd be very interested to hear via my website (http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk) from anyone with first hand experience of the Jordan scare.

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Posted by: mohannad Tuesday, 6 April 2010 4:25 PM[UAE]

well i disagree with , there is no harm in a little fun , a nice change specially that most of the news we read nowadays are about , people getting killed ,bad economy ...etc i love Alghad newspaper and i think they are one of the most professional media in the Middle east . keep it up guys

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Posted by: Aziz Q Tuesday, 6 April 2010 1:34 PM[UAE] - KSA

News by newspaper is not made to fake and conduct fun at people. When a newspaper publishes an article, people believe in them and consider them a reliable source of information. Did they mention below their article that it is a fake and April?s fool?s joke [No I don?t think so]. This is one of the worst acts in comedian environments that I ever saw and Mr. Moussa Barhoumeh have no knowledge on what he approved and his statement is stupid to clear the name of the newspaper.

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