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AFP
an hour ago
- AFP
Unrelated image of injured man falsely linked to death of Kenyan killed in police custody
'A photo of Albert Ojwang when he was alive. Has resurfaced at the Central Police Station reception. His shirt was torn, and he was bleeding from the head (sic),' reads an X post published on June 9, 2025, and shared more than 600 times. Show Hide Content warning Show Image Screenshot of the false post, taken on June 18, 2025 Hide The image shows a man with a bloodied face and a torn shirt standing with his head tilted upwards. Similar claims were published elsewhere on X here and here. Fatal arrest Ojwang, a 31-year-old teacher, was reportedly arrested on June 6, 2025, in Western Kenya, and transported to the central police station in Kenya's capital Nairobi. He was accused of criticising deputy inspector general Eliud Lagat on social media (archived here). He was reported dead two days later, with police initially claiming he died after hitting his head against a cell wall. However, a pathologist's report indicated injuries consistent with assault (archived here). Ojwang's death sparked public outrage, which resulted in protests demanding justice and Lagat's resignation (archived here and here). Lagat has since announced he would 'step aside' from his position amid ongoing investigations. Additionally, two police officers and a technician accused of tampering with CCTV footage at the station have been arrested in connection with Ojwang's death (archived here and here). However, the posts purportedly showing an image of Ojwang at the station before he died are false. Unrelated image AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and found the original image published on Facebook by ex-Kakamega county senator Cleophas Malala on June 9, 2025, alongside claims that his driver was assaulted by police (archived here). 'The Kakamega OCPD - a one MR. ROTICH and three other uniformed officers trailed my vehicle and forced my driver to stop,' he wrote. '*Disappointingly, upon confirming I was not on board, they commanded him to drive to an unknown destination. When he refused, they assaulted him so severely using a gun pointer that he was left profusely bleeding (sic).' 'This is unconscionable brutality by those sworn to protect us,' he continued. 'Our nation sinks deeper into lawlessness when officers become perpetrators. We will not be intimidated—we are formally filing a complaint with IPOA (Independent Policing Oversight Authority).' The incident was also reported by local media (archived here and here).
AFP
an hour ago
- Politics
- AFP
Video shows a Russian pilgrimage, not Israelis evacuating over Iran strikes
Israel's attack on Iran on June 13, 2025, triggered retaliatory measures by Iran and turned the decades-long enmity between the two into a rapidly-spiralling military conflict. A video compilation circulating on Facebook in Ethiopia claims to show Israelis fleeing cities en masse following a warning from Iran. However, this is false: the video shows footage from the Velikoretsky religious pilgrimage in Russia, which took place earlier this month, as well as people setting off en masse to collect a medicinal fungus on a mountainside in Nepal. The text accompanying the video post in Amharic reads: 'Israelis leave cities due to Iran's warning to evacuate their cities.' Image Screenshot of the false post, taken on June 19, 2025 'Happy trip,' reads the English text overlay, accompanied by an emoji of the Israeli flag. The 29-second video is composed of three clips divided into two sections. In the top half of the screen, hundreds of people are seen walking in a hilly, dry landscape. In the bottom half of the screen, a crowd of people are shown walking down a street, all headed in the same direction and most of them wearing large backpacks. Then, a crowd is seen from above crossing a bridge. The video was published on June 17, 2025, and has been shared more than 190 times since. A similar post was also posted here on Facebook and shared more than 5,000 times. Israel-Iran conflict After decades of bad blood and a long shadow war, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign on 13 June 2025, to which Iran responded with a barrage of missiles and drones. AFP reported that as of June 19, 2025, more than 200 Iranians and Israelis were killed in the missile attacks on both sides, with hundreds more wounded (archived here). A hospital in southern Israel was hit when Iran fired a barrage of missiles, while the Israeli army said it had hit an "inactive nuclear reactor" in Arak, Iran. International media also reported that on June 15, 2025, Iranian forces warned Israelis to leave their country in the face of increasing rocket attacks (archived here). However, the video does not show Israelis fleeing their cities. Velikoretsky pilgrimage AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video. For the footage of the crowd walking in the street and across a bridge, the search results include an X post from June 6, 2025 (archived here). Важное событие, о котором МОЛЧАТ практически все СМИ 22 тысячи православных русских людей идут Великорецким крестным ходом. Идут во славу Христа, Богородицы и Николая Угодника 22 тыс человек оставили дела и работу, чтобы несколько дней молиться Господу о прощении грехов — olga_1205 (@k_ollga) June 6, 2025 Text in Russian accompanying the video indicates that it shows thousands of Russians who took part in the Velikoretsky religious pilgrimage earlier this month. The Velikoretsky is a Russian Orthodox procession that takes place in early June every year, covering 110 miles (177 kilometres) and passing through 12 locations in the Kirov region (archived here). The official website for the city of Kirov featured a story about the pilgrimage held earlier this month on June 3, 2025, which includes a picture corresponding to the footage (archived here). Image Screenshots of the image from Kirov's website (left) and the false post, taken on June 18, 2025 Meanwhile, search results for the clip of people walking in the hills established that it was originally posted on Telegram on June 2, 2025, more than a week before the start of the Israeli-Iranian conflict. The clip shows a crowd of people in search of a medical fungus known as Yarsagumba around Mount Dolpa in western Nepal. Every year, people head to the highlands of Dolpa to harvest Yarsagumba, a rare and highly valued medicinal fungus (archived here). Neither of the three clips is related to Israel or the ongoing conflict with Iran.
AFP
an hour ago
- Politics
- AFP
AI image does not show French spy caught in Burkina Faso
'French spy has been captured by captain Ibrahim Traoré, president of Burkina Faso,' reads the caption accompanying a TikTok video posted on May 2, 2025. The post was shared more than 2,400 times. Image Screenshot of the false TikTok post, taken June 16, 2025 The video includes a static image that appears to show Burkina Faso's president standing next to a man wearing an army uniform, who has blood on his face and is holding his hands in the air. Several TikTok users have claimed that the man in the image is a French spy who was caught posing as a journalist by the name of Julien Moreau (seen here and here). This comes several months after four French nationals who had been held in Burkina Faso over espionage accusations were freed following more than a year of detention (archived here). The group was arrested in the capital, Ouagadougou, on December 1, 2023, and presented by the authorities as intelligence agents working for France's Directorate-General for External Security (archived here). They were released in December 2024, with French authorities thanking Morocco for mediation in the case. However, the claim that this image shows a captured French spy is false. AI-generated image A close look at the picture reveals several flaws commonly found in AI-generated images. For example, the writing on the man's army uniform is gibberish; it's not inscribed in French or any real language. Additionally, Traore's hands appear deformed. Image Screenshot of the AI-generated image from TikTok, with visual clues highlighted A reverse image search of the image led to the earliest occurrence of the claim we could find online: a YouTube video posted on May 1, 2025, seen here. In the caption, after a lengthy tale about a French man posing as a journalist who is then publicly confronted by Traore for being a spy, there is a disclaimer. 'This video is a work of fiction inspired by the life of Ibrahim Traoré,' the caption reads. 'The situations and dialogues depicted are entirely fictional.' Subsequent posts circulating on YouTube and TikTok do not contain any such disclaimers, leading users to believe the image and story is real. AFP Fact Check did not find any credible reports by international media on any French journalist being accused of espionage in Burkina Faso in May 2025. Several AI detection tools also considered the image to be AI-generated. Posts shared on social media with a similar claim that a French woman was caught spying in Burkina Faso were previously debunked by Euronews (archived here).
AFP
7 hours ago
- Politics
- AFP
G7 pictures misrepresented to claim South Korean president was snubbed
"(Lee Jae-myung) can't be seen in the G7 leaders' group photo, even with invited countries," reads a Korean-language post shared June 17, 2025 on Facebook. Another post shares a different picture with a similar . Image Screenshots of the false Facebook posts captured June 19, 2025, with orange X's added by AFP Lee attended the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta from June 15-17 at the invitation of the summit's host, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (archived here and here). South Korea was one of seven non-member countries invited to participate in sessions on global issues, including economic security, artificial intelligence and climate cooperation. Lee also held bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and other leaders during the summit (archived link). Other posts on Threads and South Korean forums such as Ilbe made similar claims, suggesting Lee was not recognised as an official invitee -- a falsehood AFP previously debunked. Comments indicate some users believe Lee's absence from the pictures shows he was not formally invited. "Of course they wouldn't let an observer enter the group photo," one user commented. Another wrote: "What a national embarrassment, going all the way there just to be pulled out of a group photo." The first photo in the false post was taken during a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors held in late May in Banff, Alberta -- weeks before the summit of national leaders (archived link). A picture captured May 21 by the Italian NurPhoto shows the same scene. It does not feature the barrel seen in the false post, which appears to be a reference to far-right allegations surrounding the death of past associates to Lee (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the false post with an orange X added by AFP (L) and the NurPhoto picture of the G7 finance ministers' meeting The Canadian G7 presidency also published the photo on the meeting's website (archived link). second photo in the false posts shows a picture consisting only of leaders from the European Union and G7 member states -- including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. South Korea is not a member of the G7, so Lee was not expected to appear in the photo. AFP distributed a picture of the same scene with a caption saying it shows the group's "family photo". Image Screenshot comparison of the false post with an orange X added by AFP (L) and the G7 leaders' group photo It matches the leaders' photo published on Canada's G7 website (archived link). Lee was photographed June 17 alongside other invited "outreach partner" country leaders, including those from Brazil, India and South Africa. Image Lee in a group picture with other leaders at the G7 summit (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / POOL) AFP footage of the photo being taken also shows Lee on stage with other . (AFPTV / Daphné LEMELIN, Cecilia SANCHEZ) South Korean and news outlets published similar photos (archived here, here and here).
AFP
7 hours ago
- Politics
- AFP
Footage of parking lot fire in China falsely linked to Iran-Israel conflict
"Iran's fifth attack destroyed Israel's major military base," reads the Burmese-language post shared on June 14, 2025. It shares a video with more than 25,000 views and shows people running away from a massive fire near a square. Image Screenshot of the false post taken on June 18, 2025, with a red X added by AFP The posts emerged after Israel struck Iranian nuclear and military facilities with a barrage of missiles on June 13, killing several top officials and prompting a counter-attack by Iran (archived here and here). The arch rivals have since exchanged attacks in their historical confrontation, fuelling fears of a drawn-out war that could engulf the Middle East. The Israeli prime minister's office said on June 16 that at least 24 people have been killed and hundreds wounded by Iran's retaliatory strikes (archived link). Iran said a day earlier that the Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. The video has been shared with the same claim in Burmese, English, Thai, and Hindi. But a combination of reverse image and keyword searches on Google found a video showing the same scene was published on the Chinese platform Xiaohongshu, known as RedNote in English, on June 12 (archived link). "Electric scooters on fire in Jiulongpo in Chongqing," the clip's caption in simplified Chinese reads. "Electrical safety in the summer heat is really important." Text on the video largely repeats the caption. Image Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the clip as seen on RedNote Subsequent searches found that Chinese state outlet CGTN used the clip in a video report published on the same day about the fire (archived link). Images of skyscrapers in the area published by Chinese search engine Baidu also match those seen in the false clip (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the frame from CGTN video (L) to the image from Baidu Maps of the surround area with similarities highlighted by AFP The local government said in a press release that the fire was extinguished after 20 minutes with no casualties (archived link). AFP have previously debunked misinformation related to the Iran-Israel war here.
