Claim: An image shows before and after versions of a Pakistani-French woman recently rescued in Bara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Fact: The image showing her “before” version is AI-generated.
On 26 June 2026, an account on X named Faisal Khan shared a collage of two images, claiming they show a before and after of Sylvie Yasmina, a French national who was held captive by her husband in Bara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for 12 years. The caption reads:
پہلی تصویر جب 2014 میں یہ فرانسیسی خاتون شادی کے بعد پاکستان آئی۔”
دوسری تصویر جب 2026 میں بازیاب ہوئی۔
“پوری کہانی ریپلائی سیکشن میں
[Translation: “The first picture when this French woman came to Pakistan after marriage in 2014.
The second picture is when she was recovered in 2026.
Full story in the reply section.”]
The image was also shared across Instagram and X.
Viral posts on X, Instagram, and Facebook
French woman rescued in Pakistan after 12 years
On 24 June 2026, police in Khyber Pakhtunkwa rescued a French national named Sylvie Yasmina who was allegedly held captive by her husband in the town of Bara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The 54-year-old woman claimed that Ahmad Khan assaulted her and her five children, “physically and mentally,” on a daily basis. She told the police that she had moved to Pakistan in 2014 after getting married, and had been living in captivity since then.
The Guardian reported that Yasmina was rescued after one of her sons sneaked outside and reported to the local police. She has now been transferred to a women’s police station for protection. According to the district police chief, Waqar Ahmad, Yasmina wants to go back to France, and the authorities are coordinating with relevant officials in the French embassy for her repatriation.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check took its first cue from the cafe’s name visible in the picture. We conducted a keyword search for “cafe de ore” which redirected us to Cafe de Flore, a famous coffeehouse in Paris, France. Taking notice of the Eiffel Tower in the background, Soch Fact Check found out that the distance between the cafe and the notable landmark is at least 3.5 km by car whereas the image in the claim shows the tower right behind her.
Distance between Cafe de Flore and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
Moreover, the woman’s skin texture is incredibly smooth and poreless, lacking natural imperfections, giving her an “airbrushed” look. This detail, along with the unrealistic placement of the Eiffel Tower in the picture, led us to believe that the image could be AI-generated.
Soch Fact Check ran the visual through Hive Moderation’s AI-Generated Content Detection tool. It concluded that the image likely contains AI-generated or deepfake content. It gave the image a rating of 99.9% likelihood of being AI-generated and a 4.6% likelihood of being deepfake.
Result by Hive Moderation
We also ran the image through a tool designed by OpenAI to check if it was created using the American artificial intelligence company’s tools. It confirmed that the picture was “generated using OpenAI tools,” as it “found a SynthID watermark that originated from OpenAI.”
Result by OpenAI
The unrealistic placement of the Eiffel Tower near the cafe and the strong verdict from AI detection tools confirms that the image is AI-generated.
Virality
Soch Fact Check first came across a viral post on X with as many as 271,400 views and 387 reshares. The image widely circulated on Facebook as well, with one post receiving as high as 625,000 views and 9,900 likes. We also came across a viral reel on Instagram, featuring the image, which received 1.8 million views.
Viral posts on X, Instagram and Facebook are false
Conclusion: The image claiming to show an old picture of Yasmina, the French woman recently rescued from her alleged captor in KPK, Pakistan, is AI-generated.
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com