KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — The identities of deceased people have been stolen to create fake Twitter accounts in a smear campaign against Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, The Independent reported today.

According to the UK daily, as many as 19 Twitter accounts have been created in order to direct traffic to a Facebook page “challenging” Rewcastle-Brown’s various reports on state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The smear campaign had used, among others, the “stolen” identities of Philip Goodeve-Docker, a British novice Arctic explorer who died in 2013, and Samuel Morehead, an American World War II veteran who also died in 2013, The Independent reported.

“It’s very distasteful. It is cheap to use the photograph of a dead person who can’t complain,” Goodeve-Docker’s father Nigel was quoted saying.

According to The Independent, the image of Goodeve-Docker was obtained from online fundraising efforts for the Queen’s Nursing Institute and used for a Twitter account named “Harry Drakeford” who claims to be working in the banking sector in Malaysia and Singapore.

Morehead’s picture was reportedly used in a fake profile under the name “Sam Everett”.

Rewcastle-Brown said she has lodged complaints to the respective social media sites but has only received a generic response.

“I am left appalled at what effect this treatment might have on a vulnerable, perhaps young person who is being subjected to any form of subtle or systematic bullying,” she said, adding that she has also taken legal action.

The image of Malaysian Ashraf Rossli, who was mugged during the 2011 London riots, was also used by a Twitter account under the name “Sam Woo”.

The Twitter account was created on October 23 along with several others using the same method of lifting photos online and attaching them to accounts with various names and descriptions.

Malaysian police had sought to place Rewcastle-Brown on Interpol’s wanted list for the offence of committing activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy, but the international police organisation rejected last August the request and told its 190 member countries to remove any data on the journalist from their national databases.