Vancouver woman misidentified as sister of Manchester bomber
Photos of model Janice Joostema appeared in a number of Italian publications wrongly identified as Joman Abedi
In a strange case of mistaken identification a Vancouver woman has been wrongly identified as Joman Abedi, the sister of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi on a number of Italian news sites.
Still in shock
—@JoostemaJanicePhotos of model and blogger Janice Joostema were wrongly captioned as being that of Joman Abedi in major publications including Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica and La Stampa.
The mistake was pointed out on social media.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Manchester?src=hash">#Manchester</a> e Jomana Abedi, la sorella gnocca dell'attentatore pubblicata dal <a href="https://twitter.com/Corriere">@Corriere</a>, che in realtà forse non è proprio così... <a href="https://t.co/zjO0mjwOuB">pic.twitter.com/zjO0mjwOuB</a>
—@talentosprecato'We made a mistake'
Alberto Simoni, foreign desk editor of La Stampa, told CBC news that his publication has apologized to Joostema.
"We made a mistake," he said. "We found a facebook profile [with] the same name as the sister of the bomber. Other Italian websites published many photos of this woman."
According to Simoni, La Stampa published one photo of Joostema and issued a correction the following day.
Joostema's online profile says she was born and raised in Vancouver. She has 1.2 million followers on Instagram.
Salman Abedi killed 22 people in a suicide bombing attack in Manchester, England earlier this week.