This doctored photo doesn’t show a BBC journalist with mask supporting Ethiopia's Tigra region

The post, archived here, has racked up more than 400 likes since it was published on September 5, 2020. 

“A Pro-Tigray election, BBC journalist. We appreciate,” reads the caption below the post. 

The same image was shared in another Facebook post here. The Amharic caption translates as: “‘I support the elections in Tigray,’ said this BBC journalist. Let Tigray vote”. 

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Screenshot of misleading Facebook post, taken on September 10, 2020

Tigray held regional elections on September 9, 2020 despite the government postponing all polls because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. 

Federal election officials had said in June that the Tigray elections had "no legal basis" and were "nul and void", as described in this AFP report.

Stock photo

AFP Fact Check ran a reverse image search using TinEye, which revealed the image first appeared in July 2020 on Redbubble.com, an Australian online store specialising in print-on-demand products. 

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Screenshot of TinEye search results, taken on September 11, 2020

The image was also used in other online stores here and here. 

Contacted by AFP Fact Check, the BBC confirmed that the woman in the photo “isn’t a BBC journalist”.

"Illegal election"

The post was shared as Ethiopian authorities stopped local and foreign journalists from boarding flights bound for Tigray’s capital Mekele ahead of the regional elections there.

New York Times reporter Simon Marks tweeted that he and other journalists had their IDs and laptops confiscated at the Bole International airport in Addis.

At Bole Airport this morning in Addis Ababa, three local reporters, myself, and other members of the public boarding a flight to Mekele were prevented from traveling by National Intelligence and Security Service. Phones and laptops confiscated, social media accounts scrutinized.

— Simon Marks (@MarksSimon) September 7, 2020

According to local and foreign reports, a dozen journalists wanting to cover the elections were prevented from heading to Tigray.

Ethiopia's Foreign Correspondents' Association published an open letter condemning Ethiopian authorities from “blocking and harassing” foreign and local journalists attempting to cover the elections.

Social media users speculated that BBC journalist Zeinab Badawi was  in Mekelle to observe the Tigray elections, but she later denied the rumours and said she was in London at that time.