Fact Check: Viral image of former Pak PM Imran Khan in jail is morphed

Hyderabad: Several social media users have shared an image that shows Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan sitting in a prison on a mat reading a book.

The image is being shared days after Imran Khan was arrested from his residence in Lahore after he was handed a three-year sentence in a corruption case.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false as the viral image is morphed.

We started our investigation, by performing a reverse image search and found similar images of Pakistan’stareek- e- insaaf, Ali Mohammed Khan in the frame and not Imran Khan. The image has been published by Pakistan's PTI official dated 28 June 2023.

Moving forward we also found the same image treated on the official X handle of PTI Islamabad as well. The tweet reads: “'When faith in Allah is strong and the man stands with the truth, then no power in the world can defeat him or bend him. Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Ali Muhammad Khan reciting the Holy Quran in jail.”

It also includes the hashtag #ReleaseAliMuhammadKhan.

Several other Twitter users have also tweeted the same image supporting him on their X handles.

Further search led us to a media report on a Paki newspaper Dawn titled ‘PTI’s Ali Mohammad Khan remanded to jail in corruption case’ dated June 29, 2023.

The report carrying the same image reads, “Central leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Ali Moha­mmad Khan was remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday after a magistrate rejected the plea of anti-corruption establishment (ACE) officials for seeking his 14-day physical remand.”

However, according to the same daily, he was later released on bail on 27th July following 80 days in prison.

A comparison picture is given below.