Claim: A video shows Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers and supporters protesting outside Attock jail, following former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest.
Fact: The video is from February 2023, when PTI leaders and activists gathered outside Peshawar’s Central Prison to voluntarily give arrests as part of their “Jail Bharo Tehreek”.
PTI chief Imran Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on 5 August 2023 and taken to Attock jail after an Islamabad trial court indicted him in the Toshakhana case.
According to a short order issued by ADSJ Humayun Dilawar cited in this report, Khan hid “the benefits he accrued from the national exchequer wilfully and intentionally” and “cheated while providing information of gifts he obtained from Toshakhana which later proved to be false and inaccurate” during his tenure from 2018 to 2022.
Fact or Fiction?
On 6 August 2023, X (formerly Twitter) user Asif Mehmood (@ASIFAMCT) posted a video claiming that it shows people gathered outside Attock jail to protest against Imran Khan’s arrest.
“People’s protest outside Attock Jail, our only demand is to reject the decision of Dilawar. #Imrankhan #پر_امن_ملک_گیر_احتجاج #لندن_پلان_نامنظور,” his tweet reads.
Soch Fact Check searched Google with the search term “PTI workers chant kholo kholo jail kholo,” as people can be heard chanting in the video. The results led to a video published on YouTube by GNN on 23 February 2023. The two-minute-long video is titled, “Thousands Of PTI Workers Reached Peshawar Central Jail To Submit Arrest.”
Based on key indicators, we ascertained that this video is the same as the viral video, as shown in the graphic below.
At the 00:11 time stamp of the viral video, we spotted a logo of a petrol pump. Soch Fact Check looked up Peshawar’s central jail on Google Maps and found that a PSO petrol pump is located opposite it. We compared the photos of the petrol pump shared on Google Maps with screen grabs from the viral video and ascertained that it is the same pump and location.
PTI launched the “Jail Bharo Tehreek” (fill the jails through voluntary arrests) movement on 22 February 2023. Khan had said it would be a “peaceful, non-violent protest against the attack on our constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights” via a series of tweets.
On 23 February, PTI activists and their leaders stayed outside Central Prison Peshawar till the evening but no one was arrested.
Dawn reported on 25 February 2023 that PTI workers faced police action for allegedly crossing Peshawar’s Central Prison’s fence. Some high-profile militants and criminals are kept in that jail.
Virality:
The video can be found here, here, here, here, and here on Twitter.
The tweet by @ASIFAMCT gained significant traction with 90,500 views, 1,721 likes, 964 reposts, and 27 quote tweets.
The claim was shared here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: The video does not show PTI supporters gathered outside Attock jail. In fact, it is from February 2023 when PTI leaders and activists went to Central Prison Peshawar to voluntarily get arrested.
To submit an appeal on our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com