On February 6, 2024, posts circulated an image of former prime minister Imran Khan on social media platform X, saying the picture was from that day. However, the photo is not his latest but a recent one from a few weeks ago.
Picture of PTI founder Imran Khan from Adiala Jail from Feb 6
The iVerify Pakistan team has checked this content and has established that it is misleading.
To arrive at this verdict, the iVerify Pakistan team did a reverse image search and investigated the timeline of the photo.
On February 6, 2024, former special assistant to the prime minister Shahzad Akbar posted an image of former prime minister Imran Khan on social media platform X.
Akbar’s caption said: “Breaking: The entirety of Pakistan has long awaited the sight of the chief, held in captivity by the Yazidis for some time. As we approach the elections, here’s a snapshot from Imran Khan’s jail trial a few days back, igniting your passion to cast your vote on February 8th, where you can witness Khan’s unwavering determination.”
The post gained over 377,000 views and was shared 8,800 times.
However, other users subsequently shared the photo with the claim that it was from Feb 6 from Adiala Jail.
The posts can be seen here, here, here, here and here.
The claim about the date of the image was also shared on social media platform TikTok here and here.
The iVerify Pakistan team sought to determine the veracity of the claim due to the public’s keen interest in the former prime minister who is presently incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
An image or video of the PTI founder has not been released to the media since he was arrested in August 2023 after a conviction in a Toshakhana case.
The circulated image also featured former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to Imran’s left and PTI lawyer Abuzar Salman Niazi to the right.
Running the picture through reverse image search yielded an X post by the lawyer addressing the matter of the picture.
“Just came home and saw hundreds of messages asking details about this picture. Firstly, I have no idea who took this picture.
“Secondly, I remember Khan sahib wearing this long coat with shalwar kameez in a hearing four to five weeks back. It was cipher and Al-Qadir case I think. Around 15 lawyers were in courtroom in Adiala Jail. Rest I have no details,” he said.
Dawn correspondents Umer Burney and Malik Asad, who have been covering the PTI founder’s court hearings in Adiala Jail and have been seeing him up close, also concurred, saying that while the image was from Adiala Jail, it was not a recent one.
Dawn correspondent Tahir Naseer also confirmed that hearings on Imran’s bail applications regarding the May 9 cases against him were due in Adiala Jail on Feb 6 but the date was extended.
On Aug 5, the PTI chief was sentenced to three years of imprisonment by an Islamabad trial court in a case related to state gifts. The case, filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan, had accused the PTI leader of not mentioning the details of state gifts in his tax declarations.
The Islamabad High Court set aside the sentence on Aug 29 and ordered his release. However, he was not freed as he was undergoing trial in the cipher and other cases.
The PTI chief currently remains incarcerated in Adiala Jail.
On January 30, an image of Imran Khan, showing him with a grey beard, circulated on social media platform X. However, it was doctored. The actual photo dated back to August 2023 and did not show him with a beard.
The iVerify Pakistan team has determined that the claim regarding the timing of Imran’s image is misleading.
The picture is from Adiala Jail but it is not from Feb 6 as corroborated by Advocate Niazi who dated it from four to five weeks back.
February 7, 2024 X post of Abuzar Salman Niazi:
https://twitter.com/SalmanKNiazi1/status/1754960951017603503
