Claim: Jibran Nasir, civil rights activist and lawyer was beaten and arrested recently by South police on the instructions of Justice Faisal Kamal of Sindh High Court.
Fact: On 2 July 2018, Jibran Nasir was temporarily detained following an incident in which he allegedly refused to give way to the convoy of Sindh High Court judge Faisal Kamal in Karachi’s Clifton district.
Recently, a user shared Jibran Nasir’s video (archive) on X with the caption “Human rights activist Advocate Jibran Nasir was beaten & arrested by South police on the instructions of Justice Faisal Kamal of Sindh High Court for no reason.”
A few days later, the video was also shared on Facebook (archive) with the caption:
Human rights activist Advocate Jibran Nasir was beaten & arrested by South police on the instructions of Justice Faisal Kamal of Sindh High Court for no reason.
سندھ ہائی کورٹ کے جسٹس فیصل کمال کی بےغیرتی چیک کریں۔
بس بہت ھو گیا, عام پبلک کیا کیڑے مکوڑے ھیں, ڈرو اس دن سے جس دن کراچی والوں کا دماغ گھوم گیا۔
[Translated from Urdu: Check the disrespect of Sindh High Court Justice Faisal Kamal.
Enough is enough, is the general public vermin, be afraid of the day when the people of Karachi lose their minds.]
The posts implied that Jibran Nasir was arrested recently.
What really happened?
On 2 July 2018, Jibran Nasir streamed a live video on his Facebook narrating his experience with security personnel who ordered him to move his car aside. Stuck in traffic, he couldn’t comply, leading the security convoy to push past his car, says Nasir in the video. When he questioned why he was pushed, a security member allegedly pointed a gun at him and threatened him. At the next traffic signal, Nasir was parallel to the convoy and tried to identify the judge. Security officials then reportedly manhandled him and took him away in a pickup truck, leaving his car behind, he added.
Nasir was detained in a vehicle for half an hour before informing the squad that he was a high court advocate. Upon hearing this, Justice Faisal Kamal recognised Nasir and offered to let him go, but Nasir insisted on receiving an explanation at the police station. He claimed he was treated respectfully at the station only after the media arrived. He also submitted an application for a medico-legal exam.
Fact or Fiction:
Soch Fact Check conducted a keyword search using the words “Jibran Nasir”, “arrested” and “Karachi”, which led us to a Dawn article (archive), published on 2 July 2018, headlined,
“Jibran Nasir detained briefly for ‘refusing to give way’ to judge’s protocol in Karachi”. The article includes another video Nasir uploaded while he was being taken away in a police mobile. This video is the first in a series of videos that Nasir streamed during his arrest in July 2018; in it, Nasir records with his hand extended out the window while inside a police vehicle.
Similar to the video in the claim, Nasir discusses how a judge’s protocol physically abused him, and when he tried to intervene, he was struck with a chamber. Before the video ends, a man from inside the mobile can be seen attempting to snatch Nasir’s cell phone away.
Nasir was driving on Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman Road in Clifton when the convoy of the SHC judge approached from behind his car, SP Clifton Asif Ahmed Bughio told Dawn. Members of the judge’s security squad signaled Nasir to give way to allow the protocol to pass through. However, Nasir reportedly refused to oblige, following which some of the security personnel “misbehaved” with the lawyer, the SP further informed Dawn.
Geo News reported that the incident occurred near the Chief Minister’s residence, after which Nasir was subsequently taken to the Frere police station.
A video that Nasir uploaded at the time of the incident resurfaced on social media a few weeks ago. Jibran Nasir promptly took to X to clarify that an old video is being reshared, and requested people not to portray it as a recent incident.
Virality:
The video has been shared on X here (archive).
On Facebook, it has been shared here, here, here, here, and here. Archived posts can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: Jibran Nasir was not recently arrested or beaten by South police on the instructions of Justice Faisal Kamal. The incident in question occurred on 2 July 2018.
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Background image in cover photo: Reuters
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