Talk:Babiker Awadalla

Death

Did Babiker Awadalla die in September 2016 as per this source: http://www.sudaress.com/akhirlahza/168395 Or does this source mean he is still living? http://www.baps.org.uk/news/announcements/report-visit-khartoum-sudan-8-12-march-2017/

The cite from baps.org.uk is strange. It refers to "Sami Babiker AwadAlla (Ireland)" travelling to a medical conference in Sudan. Was Awadalla ever known as "Sami", or is that possibly a relative based in Ireland? Why would a 100-year-old law graduate travel to a medical conference? Common sense and logic tells me this cite is NOT about the former PM. The sudaress.com cite merely states "died at the age of 99" without a cause or a date of death. On balance, I find both of these sources unreliable, so we have no clear evidence of death. WWGB (talk) 00:45, 28 July 2017 (UTC)

I tend to agree with the last comment - nothing is clear. Erroneous reports of deaths seem to be common within the Arab speaking world online. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi and Mishaal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud are all examples of high profile individuals who were reported dead in multiple mainstream Arab news sites online. Many of these reports were later withdrawn, though some stayed up, even though none of them had in fact died at the time (note: with Al Saud, I'm referring to erroneous reports of his death in 2016, he did actually die in 2017). At the same time, the 100th birthday article has disappeared. This could be because it was pulled off for being an incorrect report (indeed, the author may have noticed he died some time ago), but I would also note that on Arab news sites it seems to be pretty commonplace that articles are removed from the web after being up for a few months. As for the Sudanese medical conference article - again, you're right. There is no definitive proof that this is him. However, I would also stress he does have quite a unique name and that "Sami" is a word in the Arab world that means high or eminent and is often used to proceed the names of leaders, including heads of state. One solution I can suggest is that we can get in touch with the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons and/or the registrar office in Dublin who would hold death records from 2016. I'm happy to do this (see: Patricia Laffan, where I did it here after an edit appeared on here claiming she was dead and then years going by with no confirmation either way). The problem with this is often a pedantic user will come along who moans about the use of original research and sees the guidelines of Wiki not as guidelines but as laws. If I am to do this, it would be helpful if other users can show their support for this idea as a last resort solution. Otherwise, what we're looking at here is holding out in the hope that a new source appears in the future confirming whether he's alive or dead. It could very well be the case that years will pass and nothing conclusive will surface. --Jkaharper (talk) 01:16, 28 July 2017 (UTC)

The link I cited, [1], is available online and says that someone spoke with him in Dublin on May 23 of this year, so unless there is a reason to believe the source is unreliable I think that is pretty definitive evidence he is still alive. EternalNomad (talk) 17:57, 29 July 2017 (UTC)

The only problem with that is that there is no reason to believe this source is unreliable either:http://www.sudaress.com/akhirlahza/168395 so they cancel each other out.--Dorglorg —Preceding undated comment added 02:08, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

He was living in Dublin with his son, a pediatrician, as of 22 June 2018. Case closed. --Folengo (talk) 09:36, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

Well, now he's dead. --Folengo (talk) 17:54, 19 January 2019 (UTC)