Claim: A video doing the rounds on social media following the general elections on 8 February shows former prime minister Imran Khan’s family members greeting him upon being released from jail.
Fact: The video is from May 13 2023, when Imran Khan was released from jail after his first arrest. The former premier is currently imprisoned at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi.
Khan’s arrest
Khan was first arrested on 9 May 2023 on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau on charges of corruption in the Al-Qadir Trust case. His arrest led to country-wide protests, also earning 9 May the status of a “black day” by those in power at the time.
His release was announced on 12 May, and Khan was consequently returned to his residence in Lahore from Rawalpindi on 13 May 2023.
Khan was once again arrested on 5th August 2023 after a court conviction in the Toshakhana Case.
In the week leading up to the 2024 elections, Khan was given three additional sentences, including one which ruled his marriage as ‘un-Islamic’.
Fact or Fiction?
Khan’s imprisonment is widely known, and there has been no recent news of his release, which made the claim suspicious.
When Soch Fact Check investigated the origins of the video, our search results led to a post on YouTube from May 13 2023, by Dawn News. The video, titled “Imran Khan Meets His Sisters After Reaching Zaman Park”, can be traced back to Khan’s first release in May 2023, where he is shown meeting his sisters and family members after arriving at his residence in Zaman Park, Lahore.
The viral video which shows the same was shot from another device at the same time.
Following another recent rumour about Khan being shifted to Bani Gala from Adiala Jail, his lawyer Intazar Hussain Panjutha also confirmed to Soch Fact Check that Khan has not been shifted.
Virality
The viral video was found circulating on multiple social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
An Instagram upload of the video received over 80,000 likes.
A keyword search of “مرشد جیل سے رہا” on Facebook also prompted many results. The old video was shared recently here, here, here, here and here.
Reverse image searches of video keyframes showed further results from YouTube and TikTok. It was shared on YouTube and TikTok here, here, here, here, here and here.
Conclusion: Imran Khan currently remains imprisoned at Adiala Jail. The viral video claiming that he has been released from prison is actually from his first release in May 2023.
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