This image does not show a genuine US newspaper article about Pakistan's former PM

This article is more than one year old.
Published on December 4, 2019 at 09:20
3 min read
By AFP Pakistan

An image of a purported US newspaper article criticising the judiciary in Pakistan has been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook posts. The posts claim the news article relates to a Pakistani court’s decision to grant travel permission to Nawaz Sharif, the country's ailing former Prime Minister, who was imprisoned for corruption. The claim is false; the image does not show a genuine newspaper.

The image was published here in a Facebook post on November 17, 2019. It has been shared 897 times.

The purported newspaper front page bears the headline “Are Pakistani courts bitches of the riches?” and features a photo of Nawaz Sharif.

The post’s caption reads: #American #newspaper from #Virginia raised a very valid question through its headline which is self-explanatory. To this question, I say a big 'Yes' that #Pakistani #Courts are #BitchesoftheRiches and sadly its the people of #Pakistan who will pay for his #corruption.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:

Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post

Sharif, who was ousted from his third premiership in 2017 and later imprisoned on corruption charges, travelled to London to receive medical treatment on November 19, AFP reported here. Travel was granted by the judiciary and was ultimately allowed after the current government waived steep bail conditions.

The same misleading image was also posted on Facebook here and here. Another Facebook post here showed a screenshot of a tweet that included the photo and a caption that reads: "This is what the World thinks of our top Courts - SHAMEFUL."

The claim is false; the image does not show a genuine US newspaper article.

A review of the Washington-based Newseum’s website, which archives the daily front pages of US newspapers, found that there was no newspaper in Virginia with a name starting with “News,” as the image in the misleading posts appeared to show.

A reverse image search on Google for the photo of Sharif used in the misleading post found the image was taken from this 2018 report by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a US-based non-profit journalism network.

The ICIJ article carries the same photo and the same overlay text, which can be seen in the misleading Facebook post. Below is a screenshot comparison of the ICIJ report (L) and the misleading image (R) with the text noted in a red box:

Screenshot comparison of the ICIJ report (L) and the misleading image (R) with the text noted in a red box

The photo of Sharif was cropped from an AFP photo taken in London on July 6, 2018, the same day that a court in Islamabad sentenced him in absentia on graft charges. Below is a screenshot of the photo, which can be seen on the AFP Forum here.

A screenshot the photo of Nawaz Sharif in the AFP Forum

The photo caption states: "Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif arrives at his office in central London on July 6, 2018. Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by a corruption court in Islamabad on July 6, 2018, lawyers said, dealing a serious blow to his party's troubled campaign ahead of July 25 elections. Tolga AKMEN / AFP."

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