Claim: Sky News journalist Yalda Hakim has cast doubt on claims by both the PTI and Imran Khan’s family about the incarcerated former PM’s jail conditions, saying the accusations “require substantiation” and there was “no court order, medical report or independent inspection” to support such allegations.
Fact: The video is digitally manipulated, likely through AI tools. Hakim did not cast doubts or say anything about a “court order, medical report or independent inspection” during the interview in question.
On 17 December 2025, anchorperson Wajahat Kazmi and X (formerly Twitter) user @PakVocals shared a video with the claim that it showed Sky News journalist Yalda Hakim rebutting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) claim about the jail conditions of its founder and former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (archived here and here, respectively).
The video features journalist Mark Austin, who hosts Sky News’ programme “The News Hour with Mark Austin,” and Hakim, the channel’s lead world news presenter.
In the purported video, Austin opens the show by asking Hakim about the conditions in which the former PM is being held. In response, she apparently says:
“They describe Imran Khan’s condition as being held in a death cell. On international media, statements from PTI, particularly Khan’s sons and sisters, has highlighted allegations of isolation, psychological torture, and complete solitary confinement.
“However, these claims require substantiation. To date, no court order, medical report or independent inspection has verified these assertions. While the concerns raised by Khan’s family deserves empathy, they must also be subjected to rigorous scrutiny.”
In his X post, Kazmi wrote, “Some sense from Yalda Hakim about Imran Khan is surprising!”
@PakVocals captioned the video with the following text, “یلدا حکیم سچ بالنے لگ پڑی۔ کہتی ہے کہ تاریک انتشار ذہنی مریض نیازی کو لے کر جو جھوٹ بول رہی ہے اس کا نہ تو کوئی میڈیکل ریکارڈ ہے اور نہ کوئی عدالتی ثبوت [Yalda Hakim has started telling the truth. She says that there is neither any medical record nor any judicial evidence to support the lies that Tareek Intishar is telling about the mentally-ill Niazi].”
“Tareek” and “intishar,” which mean darkness and chaos in Urdu, respectively, are used to mock the PTI here, whereas the word “mentally-ill Niazi” jeeringly refers to Khan, whose full name is Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi.
Soch Fact Check has previously debunked multiple claims by Kazmi and @PakVocals.
The ex-premier — who was arrested on 5 August 2023 — is imprisoned at the Adiala jail, formally known as the Central Jail Rawalpindi.
Claims of ‘death cell’, ‘solitary confinement’
Khan’s sisters — Aleema Khanum, Noreen Niazi, and Dr Uzma Khan — gave interviews to different foreign media outlets in November and December 2025, where they spoke about repeated denials to meet their brother in the jail and claimed he was being held in a “death cell”.
The sisters and the PTI’s leaders have also repeatedly alleged that the former premier was “struggling with isolation and psychological strain”, being kept in “solitary confinement” for weeks, and subjected to “mental torture”.
The PTI founder’s sons — Kasim and Sulaiman Khan — 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”.
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”. She repeated claims about his alleged solitary confinement, saying he was “denied adequate medical attention” and “his cell is reportedly under constant camera surveillance”.
In a 17 December 2025 post on X, 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.
Govt denies claims
On the other hand, government authorities have denied accusations about Khan’s jail cell conditions and violations of his rights.
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.”
Tarar has also 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?”
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, also denied the claims by the PTI and Khan’s family about his jail conditions, terming it as “manufactured”. Speaking of UN Special Rapporteur Dr Edwards’ statement, he said, “I think that these are honest people who are dealing with bad information… They’re consuming misinformation.”
Zaidi also claimed that the PTI founder has had 870 visits, as opposed to 112 for every week he’s allowed while in prison. “He’s had 137 meetings with his sisters,” he said, adding that he has also had “451 interviews with his lawyers … in 860 days”.
The spokesperson further asserted that Dr Faisal Sultan — the special assistant for health during Khan’s government and the CEO of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, which the former PM established — has seen him in jail as well.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check observed multiple tell-tale signs of manipulation, likely using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
We noticed desynchronisation in the video as the shape of Hakim’s mouth does not accurately match the phonetic sounds being produced. For example, when she says “Imran Khan” and “confirnement”, her lips do not form the necessary shapes to utter the words naturally. Moreover, there is a subtle blur around her mouth.
It is also unlikely for Hakim to make grammatical mistakes, such as using “deserves” rather than “deserve” in the following sentence: “While the concerns raised by Khan’s family deserves empathy, they must also be subjected to rigorous scrutiny.”
While the voice would sound somewhat like Hakim to a common person, her delivery is unnatural. She speaks without pausing for breath and the audio flows continuously with a machine-like precision. Her tone is flat and lacks emotion and words like “death cell” or “torture” are not emphasised. The audio is also clean and lacks a natural room tone.
The upper half of Hakim’s face appears as if it’s frozen and her eyes indicate shock throughout the video. The way her head also moves up and down often seems out of sync with the words she is saying. Her blinking looks either irregular or looped as well.
Deepfake detectors results
The first tool used to test the visuals in the claim was DeepFake-O-Meter, developed by the University at Buffalo’s Media Forensics Lab (UB MDFL). We used seven detectors, the results are shown below:
We then tested the video in Hive Moderation and Zhuque AI Detection Assistant.
According to Hive Moderation, in which we used two trimmed parts, the probabilities of the clip being AI-generated were 89.9% and 1.6%. However, Zhuque AI Detection Assistant yielded a likelihood of 22.07%.
We also tested the video in the Global Online Deepfake Detection System (GODDS), a tool developed by Northwestern University’s Security & AI Lab (NSAIL) that uses a combination of various models along with human analysis to provide a holistic summary of the results.
GODDS used 22 deepfake detection algorithms for the visual content and 70 for the audio component. Two trained analysts also examined the clip.
All predictive models for the visual and audio content said the video “is likely to be fake”:
- The video is likely to be fake with a probability above 0.5, according to 12 of the 22 predictive models; it is likely to be fake with a probability below 0.5, according to the 10 other predictive models.
- The audio is likely to be fake with a probability above 0.5, according to 16 of the 70 predictive models; it is likely to be fake with a probability below 0.5, according to the 54 remaining predictive models.
According to the human analysts, the video contains “several indicators” that show it may be digitally manipulated via AI.
They explained that Hakim’s “eyes appear unnaturally clear, despite otherwise blurred facial features,” in the entire video. “Further, the subject’s mouth does not seem to move entirely in synchrony with their speech. This near delay appears unnatural.”
The analysts noted how the journalist’s “head rapidly moves throughout the video, however, not in alignment with the natural emphasis of words”, indicating “a seemingly unnatural and inharmonious appearance”.
“At 0:12, one of the subject’s eyes appears to change shape and overlap with their nose. At 0:30, the subject’s eyes seem to visually overlap onto her eyelids,” they observed. “The subject’s voice seems to lack natural tonal and cadence variations characteristic of human voices.”
Original video, Hakim’s remarks
Soch Fact Check also successfully traced the original video (archive), which is over two minutes and 36 seconds and was posted by Sky News on X on 16 December 2025.
In the authentic clip, Hakim says, “Yeah, absolutely, Mark, they described the conditions as a ‘death cell’. They said he’s been in solitary confinement for months and months and months and they say this is against international law. The UN special rapporteur, uh, talked about the fact that Imran Khan’s treatment is against international law… that you can’t keep someone in solitary confinement indefinitely. He is sometimes kept in a cell for up to 23 hours of the day… he’s not allowed to go out for any kind of exercise. He doesn’t have access to his physician… to family members.”
Beyond 43 seconds, which is the duration of the viral clip, Hakim continues, saying, “In fact, you know, you may remember [that] just a few weeks ago, there were rumours circulating that he might be dead and his family members, his sisters in Pakistan, had to get proof of life. Every Tuesday, the family is supposed to see him and because they hadn’t for so many weeks, there was no clarity about his health… his condition. His sons say that he is in a terrible condition. But they also said to me that other Pakistani prime ministers have always cut deals with the military and their father just hasn’t done that.
Austin then asks, “And is there any sign that the authorities will relent?”
To which Hakim says, “You know, that’s one of the things that the sons said when I said that do you think that he will be released? They feel quite bleak and helpless. They said that every time they’ve spoken up, the treatment of their father has, in terms of contact with family members, has gotten worse. Months have sometimes passed where they haven’t spoken to their father. One of the sons said it’s been about four months since he last spoke to his dad. The other said it’s been more than five months and that he was trying to ask his dad about a strategy to get him out. And, uh, the phone was cut off. So, they’re desperate and they want the international community to do more.”
The host poses another question: “Yeah. And, just finally, I mean his party is still pretty popular. So I guess that is one reason why they wouldn’t let him out.”
The journalist replies, “Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know I asked what the reason was for keeping him in and they said his popularity. Imran Khan genuinely… you know, he’s a controversial figure but he is an incredibly popular figure as well, uh, in Pakistan. He has a massive base. And, uh, I guess that’s one of the reasons why he was unable to stand the last election.”
Meanwhile, Hakim also flagged the AI-generated video in a 17 December 2025 X post, writing (archive), “Following my interview with Imran Khan’s sons, Kasim and Sulaiman, a second AI deepfake of me has been circulated. This video is not real.”
Sound engineer’s analysis
To compare the viral video’s audio with that of the original, Soch Fact Check reached out to Shaur Azher, a lecturer who teaches sound design and sound recording at the University of Karachi and the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST). He also works as an audio engineer at our sister organisation, Soch Videos, and specialises in mixing and mastering audio.
Azher said he compared spectral behavior, frequency cutoff discrepancies, spectral cluttering patterns, noise floor characteristics, and vocal delivery analysis, all of which showed that the viral video has “strong indicators of being AI-generated and/or digitally manipulated”, while the original “is consistent with a genuine human-recorded broadcast audio source”.
His observations and findings are as follows (Sample A is the viral video and Sample B is the original):
- Frequency content:
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- Variable frequencies are present in both Sample A and B
- Low-pass cutoff frequency:
- Sample A: ~9,737 Hertz (Hz)
- Sample B: ~6,462 Hz
“The extended high-frequency content in Sample A is inconsistent with typical broadcast-chain limitations. However, Sample B has spikes of high frequencies up to 13,000 Hz. Since variable frequencies were observed in both, this indicates that AI tools are improving,” he said.
- Spectral characteristics:
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- Sample A: Significant spectral cluttering observed from 3,000 Hz to 9,737 Hz, indicating unnatural harmonic density and artefacts commonly associated with AI voice synthesis or post-generation processing.
- Sample B: Minimal to no spectral cluttering; frequency distribution appears organic and consistent with studio-recorded speech.
“Spectral profiles of A and B are not matching, indicating different signal origins,” Azher wrote.
- Dynamic processing:
-
- Mild audio compression is detected in both samples, consistent with broadcast or post-production processing. However, compression characteristics alone are not determinative, but contextual.
- Room acoustics:
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- Room reverb is detected in both samples.
- In Sample A, reverb appears more uniform and detached from the voice source, suggesting artificial spatial modeling.
- In Sample B, reverb aligns naturally with studio acoustics.
- Room reverb is detected in both samples.
- Voice characteristics and noise floor:
-
- Sample A:
- The voice exhibits monotonic delivery, limited micro-dynamics, and reduced natural prosodic variation — all hallmarks of AI-generated speech. There is an absence of a consistent, real-world noise floor.
- Sample B:
- The voice demonstrates natural pitch variation, breath artefacts, and human micro-fluctuations. A real studio noise floor is present, consistent with professional broadcast environments.
- Sample A:
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the video is fake and manipulated likely through AI tools.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the video posted here on X, here, here, and here on Facebook, and here on Instagram.
Conclusion: The video is digitally manipulated, likely through AI tools. Hakim never said anything about a “court order, medical report or independent inspection” regarding claims about Imran Khan’s detention by the PTI and the former PM’s family.
Background image in cover photo: @yaldahakim and @ImranKhanOfficial
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