Claim: PTI’s founder Imran Khan has been shifted from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi to his residence in Islamabad, Bani Gala.
Fact: Imran Khan is currently imprisoned in Adiala Jail. His lawyer Intazar Hussain Panjutha has confirmed that Khan has not been shifted to Bani Gala.
Imran Khan’s imprisonment
Just a week before the election, Khan was given three additional sentences; fourteen years in the Toshakhana case, ten years in the cipher case and seven years in a case which ruled his marriage un-Islamic.
Khan’s ouster and arrest
On 10 April 2022, Khan was voted out of office through a no-confidence vote. On 9 May 2023, he was arrested on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau in the Al-Qadir Trust case. On 12 May 2023, he was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court and returned to his residence in Lahore under police protection. On 5 August 2023, Khan was arrested from his Lahore residence in the Toshakhana case after a court conviction.
Cipher case
Since his ouster, former premier Khan has repeatedly mentioned a cipher as evidence of a conspiracy to remove his government.
The purported cipher, sent to Islamabad in 2022 by Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, recounted a meeting involving the US State Department’s officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed Khan.
US-based publication, The Intercept claimed to have obtained a copy of the cable, and reproduced its content on 9 August 2023. According to the report, the contents of the cable suggest that the US raised objections to Imran Khan’s foreign policy regarding the Ukraine conflict, and pressured the Pakistani establishment to remove him.
Toshakhana case
Khan has been accused of unlawfully buying and selling gifts during his premiership that are stored in the Toshakhana, a government-owned department. The gifts, valued at over 140 million Pakistani rupees, included perfumes, diamond jewellery, dinner sets, and Rolexes. Khan said he legally purchased and declared the items, denying accusations of wrongdoing or profiting off of state gifts.
However, as per the prosecution’s claim, he did not disclose the correct amount of income made from selling the gifts, and his aides were also accused of selling some of the gifts in Dubai while concealing their actual value.
The August court judgement accused Khan of hiding benefits from the national exchequer and providing false information about the gifts obtained from the Toshakhana during his 2018 to 2022 tenure.
Fact or Fiction?
On 12 February 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user Mashal Yousafzai (@MashalYousafza) claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) founder and former prime minister, Imran Khan had reached his residence in Islamabad, Bani Gala.
According to the tweet:
“بڑی خبر
میرا کپتان بنی گالا پہنچ گیا۔
الحَمْدُ ِلله
[Big news
My captain reached Bani Gala.
Alhamdulillah]”
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be false as Khan’s lawyer, Intazar Hussain Panjutha denied the claim and confirmed to us that Khan has not been moved to Bani Gala.
We also ascertained that the user is impersonating the PTI-affiliated lawyer, Mashal Yousafzai whose official X account is @AkMashal, not @MashalYousafza.
Khan is still imprisoned at Adiala Jail where he met his party officials including Asad Qaiser and Barrister Saif on 15 February, as reported by Dawn on 16 February. In the meeting, Khan nominated Omar Ayub as the PTI’s candidate for prime minister and tasked Qaiser to approach other parties to initiate a nationwide campaign against alleged election rigging.
Khan also conveyed another message from jail on 20 February, through his sister Aleema Khan, criticising PML-N’s shift from “give respect to vote” to “give respect to boot,” describing it as a major U-turn. He alleged that widespread rigging in the 2024 elections, including pre-poll, election day and post-poll rigging, lead to the decimation of a party. However, he noted that despite the obstacles, the PTI emerged victorious but their victory stands jeopardised due to the illegal tactics that have been deployed to steal the public mandate.
In the same statement, he accused the system of orchestrating a “mother of all selections,” where criminals were acquitted while he was unfairly targeted with numerous cases and a 30-year prison sentence. Khan urged for sense to prevail, emphasising the need to honour the public will and respect the mandate to avoid becoming a global laughing stock.
Hence, in light of the aforementioned evidence, Soch Fact Check concludes that Khan has not been moved to Bani Gala.
However, former first lady and Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi is under house arrest at Bani Gala.
Virality:
The claim was also posted here, here, here, here and here on X.
The tweet by @MashalYousafza received 12,000 views, 433 likes and 106 reposts, as of writing time.
On Facebook, the claim can be found here, here, here and here.
Conclusion: Contrary to the viral claim, Imran Khan remains imprisoned at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Reports of his relocation to Bani Gala, Islamabad, are false as confirmed by his lawyer, Intazar Hussain Panjutha.
Correction: A previous version of this article said Imran Khan was sentenced to ten years for the Toshakhana case and 14 years for the cipher case. However, Khan was given ten years in the cipher case and 14 in the Toshakhana case.
Background image in cover photo: ImranKhanOfficial
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