Facebook post wrongly claims image of Great Mosque of Djenne depicts building in Sheikh Badin National Park

Claim: A Facebook page shared a post about plans to restore and renovate historic buildings in Sheikh Badin National Park, along with an image apparently depicting one such building.

Fact: The image is in fact of the Great Mosque of Djenne, also known as Timbuktu Djinguereber Mosque, which is located in Mali and not in any way related to Sheikh Badin National Park.

Soch Fact Check received a link to a Facebook post shared by Economy.pk on 27 January 2022 with the headline, “Pakistan to Restore Historic Buildings in Sheikh Badin National Park Built by the British Govt in 1860”, along with an image of a building. Another Facebook page, Startup Pakistan Recorder, also shared an image of the same building with the same headline. The image was accompanied by news of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s plans to restore historic buildings in Sheikh Badin National Park. Soch Fact Check ran a CrowdTangle analysis, with the search term “Restoration of Historic Buildings in Sheikh Badin National Park”. The analysis revealed that between 27 – 30 January 2022, posts carrying the false image received 14,821 interactions across 8 posts.

Soch Fact Check also used Google Reverse Image Search to determine the origins of the picture in question. The search turned up 279 results all of which referred to the Great Mosque of Dijenne or Djinguereber which was originally built in the 13 century and then rebuilt in the 1900s. The mosque is located in Mali, Africa not in Sheikh Badin.

The image clearly depicts a mud-brick structure, with this style of architecture fairly prominent in Djenna and West Africa more broadly. The minaret style is also known to be found in Djenne.

Soch Fact Check used Tin Eye Reverse Image Search to further investigate the source of the misleading image. The search turned up a 2019 story by the Frontier Post about plans made at the time to keep Sheikh Badin open for tourists on Eid. The article’s cover image is of the Great Mosque of Djenne, suggesting that it was this story that caused the ensuing confusion. A screenshot of the article can be seen below:

Conclusion: Posts regarding plans to restore historic buildings in Sheikh Badin National Park are misleading as they are accompanied by images of the Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali, not a building in Sheikh Badin.