Claim: A Facebook page shared a video allegedly showing the Netherlands’ Justice Minister, David Van Weel, apologising to the Sierra Leonean government for the EU’s decision to cut aid to Sierra Leone because of the latter’s failure to extradite Dutch Drug Lord Jos Leijdekkers.
Verdict: False! DUBAWA’s investigation showed that David Van Weel has not apologised to the Government of Sierra Leone. Further investigations showed the video is AI-generated.
Full Text
Netherlands Justice Minister David Van Weel recently said the European Commission has halted financial support to Sierra Leone over the failure of the West African country to extradite Dutch drug lord Jos Leijdekkers.
The statement has drawn sharp criticism from Sierra Leone Minister of Information Chernor Bah and EU representatives, who insist the claim is unfounded. Responding to the allegations, the EU clarified that the “aid cut” was due to “administrative errors.”
Amid the controversy, a Facebook page, Weblog232, shared a viral video of David Van Weel apologising to the Government of Sierra Leone. In the video, Weel could be seen shedding tears, saying, “I am sorry, Sierra Leoneans; I lied to you. Please forgive me, President Bio.”
Other Facebook users shared the claim here and here.
DUBAWA fact-checked the claim because it could mislead.
Verification
First, DUBAWA conducted a Google keyword search and found no credible news agency reporting the apology.
We also reviewed the Justice Minister’s official social media pages on X and Instagram, but found no evidence to support the apology claim.
After thorough forensic analysis, DUBAWA found that the video is not genuine. A text overlay, ‘fictional dramatisation’, further demonstrates that the video is not real.
Also, we observed that the speech was unnatural, a pattern associated with manipulated videos.
When the researcher ran the video through an AI-detection tool, it flagged it as manipulated.
Results of the video analysis
Another AI detector, Hive Detect, also gave a 98.2% probability that the video was AI-generated.
Conclusion
Our investigation found that Weel has not apologised to the Government of Sierra Leone. Further investigations showed the video is AI-generated.