AI-generated images fuel claims ex-Pakistan leader imprisoned under harsh conditions
- Published on July 15, 2026 at 11:22
- 3 min read
- By Yusra JABEEN, AFP Pakistan
As the Islamabad High Court scrutinised former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan's living conditions in jail and claims that he is held in solitary confinement, social media users circulated AI-generated images with a false claim they are photos of him sweltering inside a small prison cell. AFP found two of the circulating images match a photo of an empty prison cell published in a 2024 media report, while AI detection tools have flagged them as AI-generated.
"Even today, Imran Khan is sitting in his death cell in this hot weather waiting for justice," reads an X post published on July 2, 2026.
It shares an image of the imprisoned former Pakistani prime minister appearing to sit in a chair in a wet traditional Pakistani shirt reading the Quran. The post has garnered over 400 shares and more than 1,300 likes.
Another Facebook post published on July 5 -- which has received over 3,000 likes and nearly 400 shares -- contains a similar image.
"Imran Khan is currently in solitary confinement solely for the sake of his nation," it reads. "For months, he has been denied meetings with his family and personal physician, yet the nation remains in a deep, oblivious slumber."
Another X post shares an image that similarly shows Khan supposedly drenched in sweat, purportedly taken from inside a cell and quotes him as saying: "My cell becomes an oven in the summer."
The claim circulated as the Islamabad High Court ordered in July 2026 prison authorities submit a report on allegations that Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are being held in solitary confinement (archived link).
Khan has been in jail since 2023 and was sentenced in December 2025 along with his wife to 17 years for corruption, while they both deny the charges (archived link).
But AFP found no official photos released by credible media or by the authorities of Khan in prison.
Keyword searches on Google show two of the fabricated images appear to be based on a picture published by the Pakistan newspaper Dawn on June 6, 2024 (archived link).
The report said it was one of the photos that Deputy Attorney General Raja Muhammad Shafqat Abbasi submitted to the country's top court to show the facilities available to Khan in prison.
AFP identified several matching details in the officially released photographs and images purportedly showing Khan inside his jail cell, with background features appearing nearly identical with their positions unchanged.
Detection software has also flagged the circulating images as AI-generated.
AFP ran the first image through OpenAI's image verification website, which found it was "generated with OpenAI tools" (archived link).
Analyses of the second and third images using the AI-detection tool Hive Moderation found that it has flagged them as likely to contain AI-generated content.
The third image also contains visual inconsistencies -- including the shadows in the light beam appearing uneven in width, even though it has passed through the window's grill with equal spaces between the bars.
AFP has debunked more misinformation related to the former leader here.
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