Iran issues a sentence of 99 lashes to Cristiano Ronaldo- viral claim is false – Fact Crescendo | The leading fact-checking website in India

Cristiano Ronaldo has not been punished by Iran. The Iranian Embassy in Spain denied any such court ruling against any international athlete in their country.

The legendary Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is constantly in the news. There has recently been a lot of misleading information about Cristiano. The most recent is that an Iranian court condemned Cristiano Ronaldo to 99 lashes for adultery. 

A video featuring Ronaldo hugging a woman in a wheelchair, posing with her and holding two of his own portraits and presenting her with an Al Nassr football club jersey is going viral with the claim that Iran is punishing the Portuguese footballer with 99 lashes for touching a woman and accusing him of adultery.

The caption states, “Iran sentences Cristiano Ronaldo to 99 lashes for touching a single woman Fátima Hamami (a painter with 85% body paralysis) who gave him a painting. Islamic courts accuse him of Adultery. The sentence will be carried out if he returns to the country”.

Facebook Post| Archive link

The post has gone viral on Twitter also.

Fact Check- 

We conducted a keyword search for Cristiano Ronaldo’s meeting with the artist and found many media reports regarding this incident. According to a report by the Indian Express from 21September, “Cristiano Ronaldo met Fatima Hamami at the Al Nassr team’s mission headquarters in Tehran on 19September. Artist Fatimah Hamami has always been a huge Cristiano Ronaldo fan. The Iranian artist, who is 85 per cent paralysed, has earned much acclaim for the exceptional portraits that she makes using her feet. The meeting was held before a match between Al Nassr and Iran’s Persepolis Football Club. Hamami gave Ronaldo two portraits that she had made of him. In return, the footballer gave her a No.7 Al-Nassr T-shirt that he had signed on”.

Next, we made further search and found the official account of the Iranian Embassy in Spain denied the reports of Ronaldo facing 99 lashes for touching a woman in Iran. The tweet in Spanish can be translated as: “We strongly deny the issuance of any court ruling against any international athlete in Iran. It is a matter of concern that the publication of such unfounded news could overshadow crimes against humanity and war crimes against the oppressed Palestinian nation. It should be noted that Cristiano Ronaldo traveled to Iran on September 18 and 19 to play in an official soccer match and was very well received by the people and the authorities. His sincere and humane meeting with Fatemeh Hamami was also praised and admired by both the people and the country’s sports authorities”.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video be False. Cristiano Ronaldo has not been punished by Iran. The Iranian Embassy in Spain denied any such court ruling against any international athlete in their country.

Title:Iran issues a sentence of 99 lashes to Cristiano Ronaldo- viral claim is false

Written By: Usha Manoj 

Result: False