Claim: At least seven images show former PM Imran Khan exercising in the Adiala jail.
Fact: None of the photographs are authentic. Analysis shows that all of them were created through Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
In December 2025, multiple pictures appeared on social media platforms purportedly showing the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former Prime Minister Imran Khan exercising in the Adiala jail — formally known as the Central Jail Rawalpindi — where he remains imprisoned (archived here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).
Khan was arrested and has been in jail since 5 August 2023.
Interestingly, the former PM’s sister, Aleema Khanum, termed the second photo as authentic, saying it is old but real and likely from the summers, before he was put in what she claims to be “solitary confinement”. However, neither her nor any other family member has commented on the other images.
Khanum explained that she sent the picture to “some people” asking if it was real and said, “Now, I’m sure that that picture is of Imran Khan.”
Allegations by PTI, family
Khanum, along with two other sisters of Khan, Noreen Niazi and Dr Uzma Khan, as well as the PTI’s leaders, have consistently claimed that they were denied a chance to meet him in jail. This has triggered protests and sit-ins where, according to the party, police “violently detained” the three of them and “picked up” other leaders.
They have also repeatedly claimed that the former premier was “struggling with isolation and psychological strain”, being kept in “solitary confinement” for weeks, and subjected to “mental torture”.
In a statement issued by its Central Media Department, the PTI claimed that its “founder had been forced to endure this torment [solitary confinement] for months”.
Khan’s sons have also spoken up about the alleged maltreatment, nothing that “he’s completely isolated”, allowed only “20 minutes outside”, and has “no contact with family, no contact with personal physicians”, all part of what they claimed were “psychological torture tactics”.
Statements by UN special rapporteur, Amnesty
On 12 December 2025, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Dr Alice Jill Edwards, issued a statement calling on Pakistani authorities “to ensure that Khan’s conditions of detention fully comply with international norms and standards”.
“Since his transfer to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on 26 September 2023, Imran Khan has reportedly been held for excessive periods in solitary confinement, confined for 23 hours a day in his cell, and with highly restricted access to the outside world. His cell is reportedly under constant camera surveillance,” Dr Edwards said. “Khan has reportedly been denied adequate medical attention. I urge the authorities to allow a visit by his personal physicians.”
The statement also said the PTI founder was “not permitted outdoor activity or interaction with other detainees” nor was he allowed to join communal prayers and that “visits from lawyers, family members and others authorised by the courts are frequently interrupted or ended prematurely”.
In a 17 December 2025 post on X (formerly Twitter), Amnesty International urged Pakistani authorities “to immediately restore Imran Khan’s access to family and legal counsel as per international human rights law”.
“The authorities must ensure that the conditions of detention fully comply with international norms and standards,” it added.
For context, in October 2025, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the Adiala jail authorities to ensure implementation of a previous order, issued on 24 March this year, reinstating “the twice-a-week meeting schedule” for the former premier.
Govt denies claims
On the other hand, government authorities have denied such accusations. In an interview, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Khan consumes chia seeds and oatmeal in breakfast — which “is equal to a four days’ worth of meals for a poor person” — and has access to treadmill, weights, pantry, kitchen, and a walking gallery.
“He gets organic chicken… he gives orders [for food], which are presented to him,” Tarar stated. “What kind of solitary confinement is that? These are five-star facilities.”
Interviews of Imran Khan’s sisters
Khan’s sisters have also given interviews to different foreign media outlets in November and December 2025, citing repeated denials to meet their brother in jail and saying he was being held in a “death cell”.
Tarar, the minister, has publicly assailed Khan’s sisters for “defaming” Pakistan by speaking to Indian media outlets, saying they “should be ashamed”. He asked, “Why are these sisters crying about their brother on Indian and Afghan channels?”
One of Khan’s sisters, Noreen Niazi, criticised the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), saying she spoke publicly “to expose the injustice of my brother’s imprisonment and to urge the human rights organisations and judiciary to recognise the systematic denial of his legal, political, and humanitarian rights”.
False death claims
During the time the PTI leaders and Khan’s sisters were not allowed to meet him, rumours — and a fake image — circulated about the party founder’s death, only to be debunked later by Soch Fact Check.
On 2 December 2025, the third sister, Dr Uzma Khan, was finally allowed a visit at the Adiala jail, whereafter she said the former PM was “physically well” but “very angry” and had “no contact with anybody”, as authorities were “subjecting him to mental torture”.
The next day, she alleged in an interview with Independent Urdu that authorities were conducting a “test run” by spreading claims of Khan’s death “to see what people’s reaction would be”. She said, “If there is no reaction from the public, or if the reaction is manageable, then they might really do something to him.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first compared the background and settings in all images to real ones of Khan’s Adiala jail facilities provided by the government of Pakistan to the Supreme Court in June 2024.
The “exclusive gallery” shows a narrow passageway, with prison cells on either side and an exercise machine on the farther end. The area has a basic cemented floor. None of these features match what is shown in the viral visuals.
We then tested the photographs in Hive Moderation, Zhuque AI Detection Assistant, and DeepFake-O-Meter.
According to Hive Moderation, the likelihoods of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh pictures to be AI-generated were 99.9%, 0.1%, 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.9%, and 99.9%, respectively.
Zhuque AI Detection Assistant said the probabilities of the images being AI-generated were 20.56%, 47.09%, 14.34%, 66.68%, 28.38%, 28.51%, and 29.59%, respectively. It flagged the first, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh pictures as not likely to be created synthetically, the second as uncertain, and only the fourth as likely.
To test the visuals in the DeepFake-O-Meter, we used seven detectors that focus on pictures only. The results are listed below:
- For the first image, the results were 14.9%, 0.0%, 54.8%, 99.3%, 0.0%, 0.0%, and 16.7%, respectively.
- For the second image, the results were 3.8%, 0.0%, 68.2%, 99.5%, 0.0%, 1.2%, and 48.9%, respectively.
- For the third image, the results were 10.4%, 0.0%, 64.7%, 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.3%, and 0.7%, respectively.
- For the fourth image, the results were 15.2%, 0.1%, 48.3%, 0.5%, 0.1%, 1.5%, and 4.1%, respectively.
- For the fifth image, the results were 15.0%, 0.0%, 60.7%, 14.8%, 0.0%, 27.7%, and 6.6%, respectively.
- For the sixth image, the results were 33.9%, 0.0%, 60.3%, 99.8%, 0.0%, 0.9%, and 71.0%, respectively.
- For the seventh image, the results were 23.8%, 0.0%, 46.7%, 74.5%, 0.0%, 0.7%, and 0.1%, respectively.
The results from Hive Moderation, Zhuque AI Detection Assistant, and DeepFake-O-Meter were quite diverse and inconclusive.
Therefore, we decided to test all seven pictures in Google Reverse Image Search by checking the “About this image” tab and found each of them to be generated using AI.
The results confirmed that they was created using Google AI, citing the detection of a SynthID watermark. We further checked the images using Google’s SynthID Detector, which is a “verification portal to quickly and efficiently identify AI-generated content made with Google AI”.
It works by identifying the SynthID, “a state-of-the-art tool that embeds imperceptible watermarks” in content generated using Google’s AI tools, such as its Gemini, Imagen, Lyria and Veo models, and can do so even when it “is shared or undergoes a range of transformations”.
When asked to test the images, SynthID Detector — which currently works in Gemini in Pakistan — said it successfully detected the digital watermark and that “most or all of this picture(s) was generated or significantly edited using Google AI”.
Furthermore, Waqar Khan, the president of the PTI’s Maryland chapter, said about the second image, “This picture of Imran Khan is not original at all because Imran Khan’s weight has already decreased significantly.
“This picture has been spread deliberately by calling it original, given the restlessness and anxiety among people. We must remember that Imran Khan is in solitary confinement in extremely difficult conditions. However, this place is original,” he added.
Moreover, some people — while correctly flagging the image as synthetically created — said the uniforms of the security personnel in the background are not of Punjab Police; however, that’s unlikely to be true as they match that of jail police. These can be seen here, here, and here in pictures of officers standing outside the Adiala jail.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check concludes that none of the viral pictures of Imran Khan working out in jail are authentic.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the first picture shared here on Facebook, here on X, and by Daily Ausaf, Public News, and ABN News.
The second image was posted here and here on Facebook, here and here on Instagram, here on X, here and here on TikTok, and here by Express News. It was also posted by PTI leader Sahibzada ‘Chico’ Jahangir, ARY News journalist Sabir Shakir, and talk show host Maleeha Hashmey (archived here, here, and here, respectively).
The third photo was shared here and here on Facebook, here on Instagram, and here on TikTok. An apparently uncropped version was posted here on X but, upon closer inspection, it is likely an expanded version of the viral one but enhanced through AI, possibly through tools like Adobe’s Generative Fill.
The fourth picture was posted here and here on Facebook and here on TikTok.
The fifth one was shared here on Facebook.
The sixth and seventh images were posted here, here, here, and here on Facebook and here and here on TikTok.
Conclusion: None of the pictures are authentic. Analysis shows that all of them were created through Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Background image in cover photo: @PTIofficial
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com