Fact check: No, East African Country Eritrea did not implement Polygamy in the country.
The government of the East African country of Eritrea is implementing innovative law. It was decreed that every man must marry two women. Otherwise, he could be sentenced to life imprisonment. The civil war reduced the male population. As the population of women there is more than that of men, the government approved the long-standing tradition and made it a law
A post shared along with an image has gone viral on social media as well as mainstream media, claiming that the Eritrean Government has passed a law ordering its men to marry at least 2 women or they will have to face imprisonment.
The claim is viral since couple of days where it reads as "తూర్పు ఆఫ్రికా దేశం ఎరిత్రియా ప్రభుత్వం వినూత్న చట్టాన్ని అమలు చేస్తోంది. ప్రతి పురుషుడు కచ్చితంగా ఇద్దరు మహిళలను పెళ్లి చేసుకోవాల్సిందేనని హుకుం జారీ చేసింది. లేకుంటే అతడికి జీవిత ఖైదు శిక్ష పడే అవకాశం ఉంది. అంతర్యుద్ధం కారణంగా పురుషుల జనాభా తగ్గింది. దీంతో పురుషుల కంటే అక్కడ స్త్రీల జనాభా ఎక్కువగా ఉండటంతో ఎళ్లుగా కొనసాగుతున్న సంప్రదాయానికి ప్రభుత్వం ఆమోదముద్ర వేసి, చట్టంగా మార్చింది"
When translated reads "The government of the East African country of Eritrea is implementing innovative law. It was decreed that every man must marry two women. Otherwise, he could be sentenced to life imprisonment. The civil war reduced the male population. As the population of women there is more than that of men, the government approved the long-standing tradition and made it a law"
The claim has been viral not only on all platforms of social media but also on several digital platforms of mainstream media. The claim was shared in Hindi as well as Telugu mainstream media portals during the past few weeks.
But this claim is not a recent one, as it has been shared intermittently since the year 2016
Fact Check:
The claim that East African Country Eritrea has made it mandatory for a man in their country to marry two women or else he will be sentenced to life imprisonment is FALSE.
Starting as a satirical story, it became viral in several countries and on various platforms.
When we searched using keywords, we found an article on bbc.com, which refers to Crazy Monday, a satirical supplement published by a daily – 'The Standard'. It focuses on scandalous stories and gossip in an attempt to attract young readers.
Though Crazy Monday is not in publication now, we found an archived edition of the article published on January 26, 2016.
Several articles were published after this hoax got immense popularity across countries in 2016. One such article shared the tweet of Yemane G Meskel, Minister of Information, Eritrea who commented that the spread of this news was appalling.
Here is the tweet of the Minister:
We also searched for the Penal codes of the country of Eritrea, where we found the penal codes published in 2015. According to article 322 of the Eritrean penal code, polygamy is illegal in Eritrea.
Therefore, a hoax story created by a satirical website has been in circulation for several years. The claim that east African country Eritrea has made it mandatory for a man in their country to marry two women or else he will be sentenced to life imprisonment is FALSE.