Pictures of PML-N supporters wrongly linked to Judge Humayun Dilawar

Claim: Photos show PML-N supporters taking Humayun Dilawar, a trial court judge, shopping in London.

Fact: ADSJ Humayun Dilawar is not seen in any of the pictures. Moreover, the PML-N supporters were in London, while the judge was in Hull.

On 8 August 2023, Facebook user ‘Deeba Ajaz Butt’ posted (archive) a combination of five pictures, of which two were the same but with different text superimposed on them. These images show four men posing at various locations in what has been claimed to be London, the capital of England.

The caption accompanying the post is as follows:

“نواز شریف کا ذاتی عملہ جج ہمایوں دلاور کو شاپنگ کرواتے ہوئے… کچھ سمجھ آیا؟
[Nawaz Sharif’s personal servants when they took Judge Humayun Dilawar shopping in London. Understand?]”

Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar of an Islamabad trial court had declared Imran Khan — the former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — guilty in the Toshakhana case and handed him a three-year jail sentence.

According to a short order issued by ADSJ Dilawar, Imran 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.

The order issued by ADSJ Humayun Dilawar is cited in this report (archive). “His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt,” the judge added.

Shortly after the ruling, the BBC reported (archive) that Dilawar left for the United Kingdom to attend “a training course on human rights and the rule of law” at the University of Hull.

Supporters of Khan’s PTI party subsequently launched a protest outside the Cottingham Road campus of the institute as the former PM “insists the charges against him were politically motivated”.

Fact or Fiction?

Soch Fact Check analysed the images in the viral posts and found that the four individuals were photographed in London. We have identified at least two of the locations from the UK capital, putting the group of people in the pictures in the city.

The first of the two is located at 64 Brompton Road, London, while the second shows Little Macau — an amusement centre — at Wardour Street.

The University of Hull’s Cottingham Road campus is located in Kingston upon Hull, a city in East Yorkshire, or East Riding of Yorkshire, which makes the location of the four individuals in London at least four hours away from each other.

We were also able to identify at least two of the individuals in the images: Zeeshan Malik, the political secretary of PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and Rashid Nasrullah.

We reached out to Malik, who confirmed to us that he, along with Nasrullah are in the photos. He explained that the other two people were Rashid Hashmi, the one taking the selfie, and Eran Ali Butt; both, too, are supporters of the PML-N.

The pictures were taken on Sunday, Malik told Soch Fact Check.

ADSJ Humayun Dilawar, who was harassed (archive) outside University of Hull on 8 August, can be seen in this photo (archive) posted by a UK-based journalist. Therefore, he is not any of the men in the viral pictures.

In this regard, both Malik and Nasrullah posted on their X — formerly known as Twitter — accounts here (archive) and here (archive), respectively, with the former writing:

“یہ ہے تحریک انصاف کا جھوٹ اور پروپیگنڈہ مجھے جج ہمایوں دلاور بنا کر سوشل میڈیا پر اپنے حامیوں کو پاگل بنا رہے ہیں
[This is the lie and propaganda of [Pakistan] Tehreek-e-Insaf; they are fooling their supporters on social media by portraying me as Judge Humayun Dilawar].”

Virality

Soch Fact Check found that the post by ‘Deeba Ajaz Butt’ has been shared more than 3,500 times, as of writing time.

We also found the same claim here, here, here, here, and here.

The claim was also shared on X here, here, here, here, and here.

Conclusion: ADSJ Humayun Dilawar is not seen in any of the pictures; moreover, the PML-N supporters were in London while the judge was in Hull.

Background image in cover photo: @MuhammadNawazSharifMNS

To submit an appeal on our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com