Image of Imran Khan being transported by people is old

Claim: A picture shows some people, including a police officer, shifting Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan after he was injured in a shooting incident at a rally in Wazirabad in Punjab in November 2022.

Fact: The picture is actually from 2013 when Imran Khan fell from an overcrowded platform at a campaign rally.

On 3 November 2022, Facebook page ‘The Voice of Kashmir’ posted a picture claiming to show Imran Khan being transported following a shooting that left him injured in the leg. It also includes a cop among the first responders.

The Facebook post is accompanied by the following caption:

“#BREAKING: Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan injured after an assassination attemp near his convey, reports Pakistan Media”.

Fact or Fiction?

Soch Fact Check used reverse image search tools to ascertain the photograph’s origin and found that it is not recent.

The image is, in fact, from the time he was being transported to the hospital after he fell from a stage during an election campaign rally in Punjab’s capital, Lahore.

The image was carried by numerous media outlets, including international ones such as Express UK, Al Jazeera, and NBC News.

Virality

Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the 30-day period from 8 October to 7 November using the following search terms:

• “Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan injured after an assassination attemp convey”
• “پاکستان عمران خان قاتلانہ زخمی”

The first and second search terms turned up 875 and 100,019 interactions across 29 and 463 Facebook posts, respectively.

We also used the Hindi-language search term, “गोली लगने के बाद इमरान खान की तस्वीर सामने आई,” and found relevant posts here, here, here, here, here, and here. Other posts on Facebook that we found are available here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Conclusion: The picture of Imran Khan is actually from the aftermath of an accident during a 2013 campaign rally when he fell from a stage. It is wrongly being linked to the November 2022 gun attack that left him wounded.