Jeremy Corbyn in 2014 (Credit: Wikipedia/Garry Knight)

The UK Express misattributed a quote about Saddam Hussein to Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the UK Labour Party.

The Oct. 12, 2018 article, “Corbyn accused of wanting to ‘brainwash school kids into hating UK’ with colonial history,” claimed Corbyn supported Hussein in 2008 and said “Socialists should unconditionally stand with the oppressed against the oppressor, even if the people who run the oppressed country are undemocratic and persecute minorities, like Saddam Hussein.”

A man named Thomas Johnson complained about the error, and the Express quickly admitted it erred. The Express corrected its article with a note saying:

“An earlier version of this article reported that Jeremy Corbyn had backed Saddam Hussein in 2008 saying, “Socialists should unconditionally stand with the oppressed against the oppressor, even if the people who run the oppressed country are undemocratic and persecute minorities, like Saddam Hussein.” In fact this statement was made by the political activist John Rees, a national officer of the Stop the War Coalition, and not by Jeremy Corbyn.”

Thomas wasn’t satisfied with the correction, so IPSO investigated further. IPSO found that the Express didn’t prove it had tried to accurately report the quote and called the mistake a “significant inaccuracy.” As such, IPSO ruled against the Express for erring. However, the Express promptly corrected, so the correction sufficed in fixing the mistake, IPSO said.

iMediaEthics has written to the Express and Corbyn’s representatives.