03:16 p.m
Monday 06 February 2023
Books – Wael Tawfik:
Egyptian and Arab press websites published press reports about offering a villa that claimed ownership of the late musician Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab for sale on the Sotheby’s website, which specializes in marketing residential real estate, at an amount of $7 million, and attached pictures showing details from inside and outside.
After 3 days of circulating the news of the sale announcement, the two sons of the late musician, “Effat and Muhammad,” denied their father’s ownership of a villa in Zamalek, where they lived in the fifties of the last century in an apartment in Zamalek until the death of their father in the early nineties, and considered that an “exploitation” of their father’s fame, and postponed taking any steps. legal pending the consultation of the family’s private lawyer, and the arrival of the information requested by his son from the “Sotheby’s” website about the alleged “villa”, according to their media statements.
The denial of the sons of the late musician prompted us, in light of the spread of the news of the sale, to trace its source and the mechanism of its circulation on global real estate marketing platforms, leading to publication on Arab, regional and local news sites, and ending with its leadership on social media platforms, and the interaction of Arab, Egyptian and regional television programs with the anonymous advertisement.
Using tools for verifying images and content published and circulating on the Internet, we tracked the first appearance of the news on the Internet, its first publisher, the reality of the attached images, and the offered price for selling the villa.
first appearance
“The former villa of the musician Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab in Cairo, with 7 million dollars,” with this title, which was repeated in reports spread on Egyptian, Arab, and regional press sites, the first appearance was on an American site (mansion global) specialized in real estate market news, on February 2, 2023, according to For the initial search on the Google search engine.
And further investigation of the images attached to the advertisement, using the (tineye) tool, which revealed that the images were published for the first time on the “sothebysrealty” website, titled in English “The Glamor of the Twentieth Century in the Heart of Zamalek”, without clarifying the date of publication, and mentioning the name of the late musician Mohamed Abdel. Al-Wahhab as a former resident or owner of it, and the advertisement did not specify the price of the villa, which he described as historical, and contented himself with confirming that “the price is upon request.” Information about the location of the villa was limited to its presence in Zamalek.
At the end of the advertisement, the website specialized in real estate marketing acknowledged its “disclaimer” regarding the images shown, explaining: “The imaging of offers and images is for illustrative purposes, and is provided to assist the customer in visualizing the dimensions and planning of the property,” which showed a difference from what was reported (mansion global) .
The aforementioned signatories agreed that the sale announcement was made by an Egyptian woman named “Laila Al-Jayousi”, and he did not mention any other detailed data about her.
The ad included Al-Jayousi’s description of the “villa” with high ceilings, spacious, airy spaces, luxurious wooden staircases, and the endless charm of being the home of Egypt’s leading musician and composer at one time.
The advertisement, edited by the American Leslie Hendrickson, who works as a reporter in the field of real estate, concluded that the “mansion global” website did not reach the current owner of the “villa” and the price paid for its ownership.
The American site (mansion global) provides its target audience of high-net-worth individuals with searching for luxury properties for sale and purchase all over the world.
The advertisement was transmitted by real estate marketing platforms, most notably “barrons” of the “Mansion Global” platform, and a number of other platforms
The wording and content of the advertisement on the mansion global website and the sites that transmit it did not differ from what was published on other real estate marketing platforms, with the exception of presenting an introduction in English to the musician of generations, describing him as “the father of modern Arab music.” And defining the Zamalek neighborhood as “the most prestigious neighborhood in Cairo.”
Local and regional spread in Arabic
The first news site to report the news of the announcement of the sale of the late musician’s villa was the “Al-Hurra” website affiliated with the “Al-Hurra American” channel, on February 3, with the same title as real estate marketing platforms, “The villa of the late Egyptian musician Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab for sale at 7 million dollars.”
And from the American channel issued in Arabic, the news was circulated on the “Al-Araby” website affiliated with the Qatari “Al-Araby” channel, and they attached a documentary video clip about the biography of the late musician with the same details and content, on February 4, and from them he moved to another less well-known Arabic site with the same title, details and attached visual materials. .
On February 4, many Egyptian websites reported the text of the news announcement, with a local character, such as transferring the amount to the Egyptian pound (210 million Egyptian pounds), and some of them quoted the text of Mrs. Al-Jayousi’s statements as private statements without referring to her main source.
After that, the news topped many social media platforms, especially Facebook, until yesterday evening, Sunday, when some evening programs (evening dmc – Cairo Talk – Tahrir Hall) contacted the sons of the late musician to inquire about selling the villa,
In an attempt to communicate with Mrs. Laila Al-Jayyousi, whom the two sites (mansion global) and “sothebysrealty” knew were the ones who listed the sale advertisement, as the second made it possible to communicate with her via e-mail and a landline phone number in Sheikh Zayed City, Giza Governorate, but she did not respond until the topic was published.
