On November 27, Kool FM online TV posted a video providing an explanation of the ongoing saga in Sierra Leone with a background of images claiming to be connected to the November 26 situation in Sierra Leone.
Kool claims that the images were related to “fresh report from Sierra Leone on the ongoing saga!”
Rating Justification
Local Voices Liberia fact-checking desk reviewed these images using online image verification tool and fund that these images are not related to the current situation.
We reached this conclusion by conducting both reverse and google image searches of the two photos that were photo grid and found that they were taken in Sierra Leone but during different events.
We found that the first photo of Sierra Leone’s President Julius Madaa Bio was posted on November 17, 2022 by a Sierra Leonean publisher – The Sierra Leone Graph with the headline, US Millennium Challenge Corporation is undermining democracy, human rights, justice and peace in Sierra Leone- Op ed”.
Our check of the second photo found that it was posted on August 10, 2022, by Aljazeera when the Sierra Leonean government imposed a curfew during an anti-government protest.
Conclusion
Based on the research conducted of the images shared, we therefore conclude that the photos were used out of context. The images were taken from different incidents and do not support the explanation in the video.