A video of former US President Barack Obama in a jail cell is being circulated on social media as alleged evidence that Obama was arrested before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. This claim is false: the footage shows Obama visiting the former jail cell of South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela in 2013 and Obama were not arrested.
The claim appears at the start of the conservative “America Divided Podcast” (here), where host Gage Nelson says: a video has surfaced of former President Barack Obama in jail and many are asking if Barack Obama has been arrested, “before showing the footage of Obama looking through a jail cell.
The track is shared with the caption: “BARACK OBAMA IS INSTITUTED… 75 days after Election Day in America, and a NEW video has surfaced of former president. Barack Obama in a TRAILSEL that makes many doubt … Is OBAMA ON?”
Users sharing the post added captions, including ‘Truth’ (here); “Everyone goes to jail on January 20” (here); and “Hope this is true.” (here).
The same footage was published on July 2, 2013 by the Guardian newspaper on its YouTube page, with the caption “President Obama visits prisoner on Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was detained for 18 years”, as seen here.
Here is a picture of Obama’s Reuters visiting the cell in South Africa, which matches the footage.
Other footage of Obama visiting the cell can be viewed here on the White House’s official YouTube channel.
Obama visited the cell on Robben Island near Cape Town in South Africa on 30 June 2013 to pay tribute to former prisoner and former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, who was then critically ill in hospital and later died December 5, 2013 from a lung infection (here, here).
Obama has been tweeting since this alleged “arrest”, as seen here . Reuters found no news reports suggesting Obama had been arrested. The Obama Foundation and the office of Barack and Michelle Obama did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Later in the same clip from the “America Divided” podcast, the host admits that the footage comes from Obama who visited Mandela’s prisoner and said, “no Barack Obama has been arrested yet.”
Reuters earlier dismissed another false allegation that Obama was arrested from a fabricated article (here).
The host also refers to an alleged arrest of Pope Francis, a false allegation that Reuters also dismissed here.
VERDICT
Untrue. The video used as proof of Barack Obama’s (false) arrest is in fact one that shows how he looked in the prison cell of former South African President Nelson Mandela in 2013.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.