Claim: A viral image and video of former Prime Minister Imran Khan claim to show him in two different looking jail cells.
Fact: The viral video and image are both AI-generated.
On 8 July, a verified Facebook page called Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Sindh shared a video claiming to show Imran Khan in a prison cell. The video depicts him seated on a bed in a room with a television, air cooler and a table, from which he picks up a book.
The caption of the video is in Urdu:
[Translation: “If the public raises its voice for its rights in a peaceful and united manner then their stance would come forth in a more effective way. Awareness, unity and continuous participation are the foundation of strong societies..!!”]
The video and a screenshot from it has been shared across various social media platforms with different captions.
A screenshot of the Facebook post
Besides this, the image being fact-checked was posted on 23 July by a verified X profile called Digital Update. In it, Imran Khan can be seen sitting in what also appears to be a jail cell. He is drenched and there is sunlight falling in the cell from a small window behind him.
The caption with this image reads:
“Keep Asking
WHERE IS IMRAN KHAN?
A screenshot of the X post
Several posts sharing the image claimed or implied that it showed Imran Khan suffering from extreme heat inside jail.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first reverse-searched the image and a screenshot from the video to trace the origins of the visuals. These searches did not bring up any credible results.
Since the image and video being fact-checked claim to show Imran Khan inside prison, we also searched for recent reporting on his imprisonment to find whether any credible source has published similar images or footage.
A search for recent updates led to a news article published on The Independent, on 27 July 2026, titled “UN expert condemns Imran Khan’s 33 months in solitary confinement”. The article quoted an X post by Alice Jill Edwards, the UN special rapporteur on torture, who discussed Imran Khan’s prison conditions and referred to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. However, the article did not include or reference the image or video being fact-checked.
To further check for the image and video’s authenticity, Soch Fact Check analysed them using Hive Moderation, TruthScan, Image Whisperer, BitMind AI and SynthID detector.
Claim 1: Jail cell video
In the video, the former prime minister is shown wearing white clothes, seated on a bed. In the background a television screen and an air cooler is visible, while a chair and a table are positioned beside him. As the video begins, he reaches towards the table and picks up a book.
A closer examination of the video reveals some visual inconsistencies that suggest that it is AI-generated. The most prominent issue is the instability of facial features. As Imran Khan turns his head the shape and proportions of his nose change between frames. The body movements also appear unnatural, with transitions between poses lacking the shifts in posture expected in genuine human motion. This gives the video a synthetic appearance.
Screenshot 1: Imran Khan’s face looks unreal and the stack of papers on the table transform into a book.
Another notable inconsistency appears in the object he picks up from the table. In the opening frames, the object resembles a stack of loose papers. However, as the video progresses and he lifts it, the object appears to change into a black-covered book. This change in shape is another visual discrepancy commonly found in AI-generated videos.
Screenshot 2 from the video: The papers transform into a book.
The video was run through Hive Moderation, an artificial intelligence service that helps online platforms automatically detect and remove unsafe content across images, videos, text, and audio.
A screenshot of the result from Hive.
According to the result, there is a 90.4% likelihood of the video being AI-generated.
The video was also run through TruthScan, a tool that helps with the detection of AI-generated images, videos, deepfakes and manipulated photos.
A screenshot of the result from TruthScan.
The result shows that the video has a 93% probability of being AI-generated.
The video was also run though BitMind AI, a deepfake detection and content verification platform.
A screenshot of the result from BitMind AI.
BitMind AI also classified the video as AI-generated, giving a confidence score of 89%.
Claim 2: Image depicting jail cell conditions
The image also contains several inconsistencies typically found in AI-generated images. The sunlight entering through the window appears unnatural as the rays are exaggerated and do not resemble realistic lighting. The texture of Imran Khan’s kurta also appears unreal, with parts of the fabric blending into the skin. His hair too lacks the natural variation and appears overly uniform.
Signs showing the photo is AI-generated.
This image was also run through, Hive Moderation.
A screenshot of the result from Hive.
According to the result, the image is 88.7% likely to be AI-generated.
The image was also checked on Image Whisperer, a new AI detection tool launched by Henk van Ess, an online research expert and assessor of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), of which Soch Fact Check is a signatory. It pointed out several AI-like characteristics, including overly stylised light rays, unnaturally rendered wet fabric and overly consistent skin and hair details. It suggested the image may have been generated using Midjourney, which is a generative artificial intelligence program that creates detailed images from prompts.
We also checked whether both the visuals contain SynthID, an imperceptible watermark embedded in all content generated by Google’s AI tools. However, no SynthID watermark was detected.
Although AI detection tools are not enough to reach a conclusion, their findings support the visual inconsistencies identified during our analysis.
Therefore, based on the visual inconsistencies identified and results from multiple AI-detection tools, Soch Fact Check concludes that the viral image and video claiming to show Imran Khan inside prison are AI-generated.
Virality
The viral image and video and the other AI-generated ones have garnered thousands of views and were shared several times on Facebook, X, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
Conclusion: The viral image and video claiming to show Imran Khan inside prison are generated using artificial intelligence. Imran Khan’s imprisonment has been reported by credible sources, but the visuals circulating online do not provide authentic evidence of his prison cell or its conditions.
Background image in cover photo: AFP
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com