Media Outlets Share Old Photos of Imran Khan After 'Assassination Attempt'

While one photograph is from 2014, the other one is from 2013 when Khan fell off a platform during a rally.

Fact-Check | Several media organisations shared old photographs of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan after he was injured in firing during his rally in Pakistan's Gujranwala.

(Photo: The Quint)

Media houses and several other social media users have shared old photographs of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, as recent images of him after he was shot at during the 'Real Freedom' rally in Pakistan's Wazirabad on Thursday, 3 November.

Who shared it? : News channels like Times Now, News24, NDTV, The Economist, The Guardian and British television personality Piers Morgan are some of the people who shared the old photographs.

• The caption for the post by News24 read, "गोली लगने के बाद इमरान खान की तस्वीर आई सामने हमले में 9 लोग हुए घायल, 1 की मौत". [Translation: Imran Khan's picture surfaces after being shot at; nine people injured in the attack, one killed.]

(Note: Swipe right for more claims.)

An archived version of the post can be seen here.

An archived version of the tweet can be seen here.

An archived version of the tweet can be seen here.

An archived version of the tweet can be seen here.

An archived version can be seen here.

An archived version can be seen here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

But the fact is: One picture, in which Khan seems to be lying on a bed, dates back to 2014 and was shared by Khan himself when he was on a 'dharna' (protest). The other one is from 2013 and shows people carrying him when he fell during a political rally. 

How did we find out the truth?: We conducted a reverse image search on the two images.

• Image 1: While looking at the reverse image search results, we came across a tweet from Khan's official Twitter handle published on 12 August 2014.

• The photograph was taken when the members and supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), led by Khan, were holding countrywide sit-in protests against the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, demanding his resignation.

Tweet from Imran Khan's official handle dating back to 2014.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

More images from the location, taken from different angles, were also seen on Khan's and PTI's Twitter handles.

• Image 2: The second image was from 2013, when Khan sustained serious injuries on his head and back after falling off a platform at an election rally in Lahore. The photograph shows him being taken away from the location and was shared by several news publications.

• Khan was admitted to Lahore's Liberty Hospital and was discharged after two weeks of treatment.

A link to the Al Jazeera video can be found here.

(Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

What about the 'assassination attempt'?: Khan and other PTI leaders – Faisal Javed and Ahmed Chattha – were injured in firing incident.

• According to Punjab police, seven people were injured and one person was killed. One suspect has been taken into custody.

• The suspect has reportedly said that he had come to kill Khan as he was 'misleading the people.'

• Videos of an injured Khan were shared on PTI’s official Twitter handle.

Conclusion: Clearly, old images of Khan were shared by media organisations as recent photos of the former Pakistan prime minister after he was shot at.

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