Attempts to manipulate the visit by Morocco’s King Mohammad VI to Doha backfired when a picture purportedly showing the monarch’s support for Qatar was dismissed as a “blatant fake”. The visit by King Mohammad, the first since June 5 when Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, was hailed in some Qatari media as a major indication of his support for Doha’s position.

Gulf News reported.

Hashtags were set up on social media to thank the King for the visit, with references to him as the “Breaker of the Siege”, a qualification that a local daily used on its front page.

A picture of King Mohammad VI holding a scarf reading in Arabic “You Have the World and We Have Tamim”, in reference to Qatar’s Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, was widely circulated on social media as a clear ‘proof’ of Morocco’s support for Qatar.

Several users posted tweets and posts on social media thanking King Mohammad VI for his support and for siding with Qatar.

However, Yassir Zenagui, an adviser to King Mohammad VI, said that the picture was fake. “This is a blatant fake, We were surprised by this picture. I was alongside His Majesty the King throughout this visit, and he never held that scarf and nobody has taken a picture of him holding any scarf,” Zenagui said in remarks published in the Moroccan media.