Claim: At least four pictures show Imran Khan being treated and escorted in Islamabad’s PIMS, including one in which he’s wearing an eye patch.
Fact: None of the pictures are authentic. Three of them are AI-generated and a fourth is a doctored version of an old photo.
In February 2026, social media users shared visuals of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, showing him with what appear to be security and health officials in the background in one instance and wearing an eye patch likely following a surgery in another.
A third picture depicts him wearing a white gown and a fourth one features him in a chair at what appears to be an ophthalmology clinic.
The archived links to the aforementioned posts are available here, here, here, and here, respectively.
Khan’s eye issues
On 24 January, the incarcerated former PM was taken from Central Jail Rawalpindi — commonly known as the Adiala jail — to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad for an eye-related procedure and brought back early the next day.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed that Khan was shifted to PIMS after eye specialists examined him at Adiala Jail and recommended further assessment and treatment. The hospital visit was conducted under tight security, with operation theatres and anaesthesia rooms cordoned off.
According to Tarar, doctors at the facility conducted a thorough examination and performed a minor procedure lasting around 20 minutes with Khan’s written consent.
In a video message released 30 January, PIMS Executive Director Dr Rana Imran Sikandar said a team of senior health professionals had assessed the PTI founder’s condition before discharging him, explaining that increased pressure in the vessels of his right eye had temporarily affected his vision. He added that the treatment plan — including an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) intravitreal injection — was explained to him and “informed consent obtained … prior to the procedure”.
Concerns about Khan’s vision have intensified in the weeks following his January hospital visit. In February, lawyers appearing before Pakistan’s Supreme Court said Khan had suffered significant vision loss in his right eye prompting the court to order a detailed medical assessment. A medical board subsequently examined him at Adiala Jail, after which government‑appointed doctors reported some improvement in his eyesight.
However, Khan’s personal physician has stated he cannot verify those findings due to lack of access to the imprisoned former leader.
Khan’s family said it had “no trust” in the authorities. His sons have also sought visas to visit him. Aleema Khan, described it as “extremely concerning and unacceptable” that the government had resisted allowing Khan’s personal doctor and a family representative to be present during the examination and treatment.
Authorities have scheduled further specialised treatment, including additional eye injections at a hospital. Meanwhile, supporters and international figures, including former cricket captains, have called for better medical care and transparency regarding his condition.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched the first image but found no relevant results. However, it appeared in multiple other social media posts, such as this one, with one of the comments on it providing an uncropped version of the photo.
Reverse-searching the uncropped image led us to a Facebook reel, which contains two other photos showing a similar setting, with police officers in different uniforms and health professionals surrounding Khan, who is in a wheelchair.
However, we observed that the name tags on the doctor’s clothes and the police officers’ uniforms in all three contain illegible text, indicative of content generated through artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
The security officials’ uniforms — dark green, olive green, and black — also do not match the ones that jail personnel and Punjab Police officers wear. Lastly, everyone except Khan is smiling, which is unlikely given the atmosphere.
We did not find any media reports about the three images either.
Soch Fact Check then tested each of the three photos in Hive Moderation, which yielded probabilities of them being AI-generated as 79.8%, 92.9%, and 96.9%, respectively.
The second image, which depicts Khan wearing an eye patch, and a video of the same were created using Google’s AI tools.
We checked if the photo and the clip contained SynthID, an imperceptible watermark embedded in all content generated by Google’s AI tools.
For the picture, SynthID Detector, which currently works through Gemini in Pakistan, said it “was partially edited or generated using Google AI”. It added, “A visual inspection of the image also reveals several common signs of AI generation, [such as] background Inconsistencies. [For example,] the medical posters on the wall contain distorted graphics and illegible text.”
For the video, SynthID Detector said, “parts of the visuals in this video were edited or generated using Google AI. However, no SynthID watermark was detected in the audio.”
The third visual, showing Khan in a gown, is an altered version of an authentic photo that appeared online as early as November 2022, with the colour changed from blue to white.
The last image featuring the PTI founder in an ophthalmology clinic was also not authentic, according to multiple AI detection tools.
Hive Moderation said the photo was 99.9% likely to be AI-generated.
We also tried 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, too, said the picture was likely to be AI-generated, with a very high confidence of 98%.
In Deepfake-O-Meter, we used seven detectors; the probabilities were 56.4%, 64.0%, 50.9%, 88.7%, 18.3%, 35.6%, and 98.7%, respectively.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the first image here on X (formerly Twitter), here, here, and here on Facebook, and here on Threads.
The second photo appeared here and here on TikTok, here and here on Facebook, here and here on X, here and here on Instagram, and here and here on YouTube.
The third picture was posted here and here on Facebook, here and here on Instagram, here on TikTok, here on YouTube, and here on X. It was also included in reports published by ABN News and Kashmir Urdu.
The fourth image was here, here, and here on X, here and here on Facebook, and here and here on Instagram. Gulf Today also carried it in a report.
Conclusion: None of the pictures are authentic. Three of them are AI-generated and a fourth is a doctored version of an old photo.
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com