Posts misrepresent Pakistani politician's remarks about family visits in prison

"When my daughter was 13 years old, she had completed her graduation. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz reveals in English," reads the Urdu-language caption of a Facebook video shared on July 4, 2026.

The 13-second clip shows a portion of a speech she delivers in English.

"My daughter, my youngest daughter who has just finished her graduation, was only 13 years old then and I remember every time she used to walk into the --" she says, before the video abruptly cuts off.

The clip appears to have been taken from a news broadcast, with an Urdu-language chyron over the footage reading, "Conference on prison reforms at the Supreme Court of Pakistan. I believe in the rule of law, says Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif."

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Screenshot of the falsely shared post captured on July 9, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

The same portion of the chief minister's speech was also shared in similar Instagram and TikTok posts.

But a review of the full speech shows the chief minister did not say her daughter graduated from university at 13. There have also been no official reports of her saying her daughter graduated at that age.

Prison reform speech

A reverse-image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to longer footage of the chief minister's speech shared by Pakistani news outlet 24 News HD on July 2 (archived link).

The snippet used in the false posts corresponds to the 1:15 mark of the 24 News HD video.

The conference was also covered by other Pakistani news outlets (archived here and here). 

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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (L) and the 24 News HD footage

The chief minister was addressing the National Conference on Prison Reforms hosted by the Supreme Court on July 2.

She spoke about her experience of solitary confinement and how they have shaped the prison reforms introduced by her government across Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab. 

She said: "For someone behind bars, ladies and gentlemen, a meeting with loved ones is not merely a visit, it is often a reminder that life continues beyond prison."

"My daughter, my youngest daughter, who has just finished her graduation, was only 13-years-old then, and I remember every time she used to walk into the meeting room, she used to leave crying and as a mother, and I know every mother sitting here, every woman sitting here would identify with that. It was a very difficult time."

The full remarks show she was saying her daughter was 13 years old when she visited her in prison, not when she graduated.

The chief minister and her father, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, were arrested on their return to Pakistan in July 2018, on corruption charges linked to the purchase of luxury properties in London (archived link).

A report in the Express Tribune mentions her youngest daughter was 10 years old in January 2015, which would make her around 13 years old at the time of her mother's detention (archived link).

Maryam Nawaz was released from Adiala jail in September 2018 after the Islamabad High Court suspended and later overturned her conviction in the corruption case (archived link). She was acquitted after the court ruled the National Accountability Bureau had failed to prove its case (archived link).

She became the country's first woman chief minister in 2024 when she was elected to lead Punjab, the largest province of the country (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation targeting the Punjab chief minister.