Claim: Imran Khan addressed his party workers and supporters in Zaman Park, Lahore, on 14 March 2023 and his speech was broadcast live by Hum News as he evaded police.
Fact: The live stream in question actually shows an old speech from May 2022 and was not filmed at his residence. However, Khan has been speaking to the media and his supporters from his Zaman Park residence.
At 10:52 PM on 14 March, Facebook page ‘Design by Catalina’ live-streamed a video (archive) of former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, as he continued to evade detention by law enforcement authorities who had arrived from Islamabad to Lahore after a district and sessions court issued arrest warrants over non-appearance in Toshakhana case hearings.
Supporters of Imran Khan gathered at the former premier’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore — where he was reported to be hiding — in a bid to prevent police from both Islamabad and Lahore from arresting their party leader.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check took screenshots of keyframes of the live stream and ran them through reverse image search tools, which helped us identify the video as the over-an-hour-long speech he gave back in May 2022 when he was deposed from the prime ministership.
The original speech was broadcast live by Pakistani media outlet Hum News here (archive) and the one that went viral today — on 14 March 2023 — was complete with the tickers running at the bottom of the video.
We also intermittently matched some of the comments he made in both videos and ascertained that the live stream in question is not new but an old video being rehashed.
The speech Khan delivered is, in fact, from the ‘Amar Bil Maroof’ rally in Islamabad.
Related: Picture claiming to show crowd at ‘Amar Bil Maroof’ rally is actually from 2007
Furthermore, no news channel reported on or broadcast any such speech by the PTI chief live from either Zaman Park or anywhere else.
Virality
As of the time of writing, the live-stream has over 12,000 reactions, 4,300 comments, and 1,400 shares. It was viewed more than 126,000 times.
Conclusion: The live stream does not show Imran Khan speaking on 14 March 2023; it, in fact, shows a speech Khan gave in May 2022.
Background image in cover photo: @ImranKhanOfficial