Claim: Is the image used by Al Jazeera and DW Africa on their report about Ousman Sonko, the former interior minister of the Republic of the Gambia, who is charged with crimes against humanity, correct?
SOURCE: Al Jazeera English and DW Africa
Verdict: Misleading
Ousman Sonko, former interior minister, has been charged with crimes against humanity committed under former authoritarian leader Yahya Jammeh. In reporting the development against Gambia’s Ousman Sonko, former interior minister, a post made by Al Jazeera English and DW Africa on Facebook said that Ousman Sonko, a former interior minister of the Gambia under former president Yahya Jammeh’s regime from 2006 to 2016, has been charged with crimes against humanity in Switzerland.
However, the report on these platforms raised an alarm as the picture used did not represent the true image of Gambia’s Ousman Sonko as reported.
Through the help of Google Lens and other fact-checking tools, we find out that the picture that was used on their post doesn’t represent an image of Gambian Ousman Sonko, who has been charged with a crime against humanity. The picture used by Al Jazeera English is wrong, and it represents the image of the prominent Senegalese politician Ousman Sonko, while the charge was leveled against the former interior minister from the Gambia.
Conclusion
The story about the charges against Ousman Sonko, the former interior minister of the Gambia, is true; however, the picture used by Al Jazeera and DW Africa is wrong and not the correct image of the Gambia’s Ousman Sonko. Instead, the picture in circulation is of Ousmane Sonko, a prominent politician and opposition leader of Senegal; they are two different people with distinct personalities from different sovereign nations. Therefore, the image on the post is wrong and has the potential to be misleading.
by Muhammed Lamin Touray
Communication Officer / Researcher
