Fact-Check: Video Doesn't Show Imran Khan in Jail; It Is Old and Altered!

The original video is from an interview with Imran Khan conducted before his arrest.

Fact-check: An old and edited video of Imran Khan is going viral to claim that it shows him in jail.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan sitting silently with his eyes closed is going viral on social media to claim that this video was recorded inside the jail where is currently being held.

Why was Khan arrested?: He was arrested on 5 August after being found guilty by a district and sessions court in the Toshakhana case.

• The court convicted Khan on charges of corruption related to the state gift repository.

• Rejecting Khan's petition to dismiss the case, the court sentenced him to imprisonment for three years.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: This video is edited.

• We found the original video of Khan, which shows him giving an interview with his eyes opened.

• The video also predates his arrest.

How did we find out the truth?: On the top left corner of the video, we noticed a URL for We News, a Pakistani news outlet.

The video carried a URL.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

• We checked their YouTube channel for Khan's interview and found a video shared on 1 August.

• The title read, "Imran Khan Exclusive: 'In the elections, PTI's graph will go up due to the delay".

• We noticed that the viral video was clipped from this longer version from the 0:01, 1:04, 2:27 and 3:40 timestamps, where Khan's actions are the same but his eyes are open.

• Further, we compared the original video with the viral video which was altered to show Khan closed eyes.

The viral video is altered. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

We have also reached out to We News: The team of Pakistan's news outlet confirmed to us that this interview of Khan predates his arrest.

"Our deputy editor reporting Mr Zubair Ali Khan did this interview when Mr. Khan was appeared before the Islamabad's session court in Toshakhana case on 1 August 2023. He was arrested on August 5, 2023 from his residence in Lahore," they added.

Viral filter: The viral video of Khan is an example of the filter, a form of Augmented Reality (AR), that has been going viral on social media platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram and Snapchat.

• This 'eyes closed' filter that makes it look like the person's eyes are closed when in reality they are not.

• We could also noticed discrepancies in the viral video where the 'eyes closed' filter was not working properly.

Discrepancies in the viral video where one eye looks shut and the other does not.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

Conclusion: An old and edited video of Imran Khan is going viral to claim that it shows him in jail.

(Note: The story has been updated to add a quote from We News.)

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