Fact-check: Are these photos of Sudanese military general Col. Ibrahim Shemseddin?

No, the men in the photos are Omar Zain al-Abdin, former Head of the Sudanese military council’s political committee in uniform, and Lomoni Lewan whose photo was taken in the Turkana region of Kenya.

Writer: Ochaya Jackson

A tweet with images claiming to show Sudanese military general Colonel Ibrahim Shemseddin in a malnourished state in detention is false.

One of the images is supposedly of the general in military attire, and two others are of him in detention by former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s regime. 

“Politics and its cruelty: “The person you see in the picture below is called Colonel Ibrahim Shemsedin. The man was Sudan’s most powerful Security Chief, locked up in underground detention by President al-Bashir’s regime”, reads the August 2, 2023 tweet. 

Screenshot of the tweet

The claim depicts a political turnaround and portrays that the military Colonel was once powerful but ended up in prison under former Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir.

Investigation

However, a Google reverse image search established that the photos presented in the claim are of two different individuals.

The man in the military attire is Omar Zain al-Abdin, former Head of the Sudanese military council’s political committee. The photo was taken while he was addressing a press conference in 2019 after the overthrow of President al- Bashir from power.

On the other hand, the elderly, malnourished man is Lomoni Lewan. His photo was taken in the Turkana region of Kenya by BBC correspondent Ronclife Odit, who tweeted about it the same year, according to the France 24 website.

Lewan’s photo has also been used in the past claiming to show a political prisoner detained in an underground tunnel since 1995 in the Sudanese city of Omduman. However, it was fact-checked by AFP and found to be false.

According to United Press International’s (UPI) article, Col. Ibrahim Shamseddine, Sudan’s former deputy minister of defence, died in a plane crash in 2001 alongside other senior military officers during an inspection visit to Malakal.

Real photos of Colonel Ibrahim Shamssedine, source: France 24 

Conclusion:

The photos in the claim are not of Col. Ibrahim Shamseddine. The men in the photos are Omar Zain al-Abdin, former Head of the Sudanese military council’s political committee in uniform, and Lomoni Lewan whose photo was taken in the Turkana region of Kenya.

This fact check was published by 211 Check with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and the African Fact-Checking Alliance.

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