Claim: Social media video claims to show protesters in the Faizabad area of Islamabad after Imran Khan was arrested in Lahore in the Toshakhana case.
Fact: The claim is false because the video is not from August 2023. The video was previously shared in November 2022, when PTI supporters protested against the assassination attempt on Imran Khan in Wazirabad.
On 5 August 2023, former prime minister and chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, was arrested from his residence in Lahore after a court sentenced him to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case.
According to a short order issued by ADSJ Humayun Dilawar cited in this report, Imran Khan hid “the benefits he accrued from the national exchequer wilfully and intentionally,” and “cheated while providing information of gifts he obtained from Toshakhana which later proved to be false and inaccurate,” during his tenure from 2018 to 2022.
Fact or Fiction?
On 5 August 2023, a social media user shared a video claiming it shows Faizabad, an area of Islamabad, after Imran Khan was arrested in Lahore. The 7-second video shows men standing on a bridge and protesting.
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search on the video’s keyframes to investigate the claim. The Yandex result showed an Indonesian news report published on 5 November 2023.
The Indonesian language report translated into English reads, “Demonstrations Still Happening After the Shooting of Former Prime Minister Imran Khan.” It also featured video clips in which the same bridge can be seen. The report reads, “Demonstrations continued after the shooting of Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Rawalpindi, Friday 4 November 2022 local time. The demonstrators headed for Islamabad and pelted officers with stones.”
Furthermore, an advanced search on Twitter showed that the same video was shared back in 2022 after Imran Khan was shot. The video was posted by local journalist Khurram Iqbal with the Urdu caption,
“فیض آباد میں تحریک انصاف کے کارکن اور اسلام آباد پولیس، ایف سی آمنے سامنے۔”
[Tehreek-e-Insaf workers and Islamabad Police, FC face to face in Faizabad].
Different videos shared by multiple news outlets showed that in November 2022, police and PTI supporters engaged in clashes after Khan was shot. The video is hence not recent from Khan’s arrest in August 2023.
Virality
The false video on X (formerly Twitter) received 12.7k likes, 7,000 reposts and 277 comments. It can be seen here, here, here on X, and here on Facebook.
Conclusion: The video showing protesters at Faizabad after Imran Khan’s arrest is actually from November 2022 when Khan was shot.
To submit an appeal on our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com