Claim: A video shows police cracking down on PTI supporters outside Adiala jail, where Imran Khan is jailed.
Fact: The clip is at least a year old and therefore unrelated to the recent protests by PTI supporters outside Adiala jail.
On 26 November, an X user posted a clip (archive) claiming it shows the police opening fire on supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan outside Adiala jail, where he is incarcerated.
The text of the post reads: “𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝗥𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶 𝗢𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗲
Police opens Fire on #ImranKhan supporters oitside Adiala Jail in #Rawalpindi. Huge Riot upcoming in #Pakistan. Forces deployed. Parliament emergency sesssion called tomorrow.”
Supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) held protests outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi after Khan’s sisters were denied a meeting with him recently. This led to rumours about Khan’s whereabouts and claims began circulating online about his alleged death.
Soch Fact Check debunked claims about Imran Khan’s alleged death here.
This article only factchecks the clip shared in the post.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the video and found that it is not linked to the protest outside Adiala jail by Khan’s supporters.
On 29 November 2024, a Reddit account posted the same video (archive) with the description, ‘“Brother please don’t do this. For God’s sake stop and go back.” They thought these were their protectors but the armed men kept firing at them’. A side-by-side comparison of the clip being fact-checked with the Reddit video is given below, which confirms it is old:
On the left is a clip circulating online and on the right is the same video shared on Reddit from November 2024
A Facebook account of “PTI UK [Official]” posted the same video on 28 November 2024 with the following description [translated from Urdu in English via Google translate]: ‘On November 26, when troops opened indiscriminate fire (live rounds) and started tear gas at D-Chowk, a worker pleaded with them, “Please don’t do this, brother. We will appreciate it if you step back. We will take our car and leave.”
But no one paid heed to their pleas and the indiscriminate firing continued.’
An X user also posted this same video here (archive) on 30 November 2024.
The captions of the Reddit, Facebook, and X posts refer to the police crackdown on PTI supporters in November 2024 to clear Islamabad of Khan’s supporters, who held protests demanding his release. Khan has been incarcerated since August 2023 on various corruption charges, which he has denied.
Soch Fact Check therefore rates the claim false.
Virality
The post on X garnered 59,400 views and was liked 675 times.
It appeared on X here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
On Facebook, this video was shared here.
Conclusion: The video does not show police cracking down on PTI supporters outside Adiala Jail recently. The video is at least a year old.
Background image in cover photo: Al Jazeera
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