FACT CHECK: Imran Riaz Khan has not released a video on Eid

Claim: Journalist and YouTuber Imran Riaz Khan has released a video statement following his release from prison.

Fact: The video featuring Imran Riaz Khan is not recent. His current location remains unknown.

Source of Claim: https://youtu.be/-9uHOSus3Ew

The Situation:

On 30 June 2023, amidst the Eid ul Azha holidays, a video surfaced on social media featuring journalist and political commentator Imran Riaz Khan recording for his YouTube channel. The video has been erroneously presented as his ‘first vlog post-release’, suggesting that Riaz has been found and released by law enforcement agencies.

In the video, Imran Riaz discusses the conditions surrounding his arrest and the nature of the cases lodged against him. Since his unexplained disappearance from Sialkot airport on 11 May 2022, no charges have been brought against him, nor has he been brought before a court. Police claims they have no clue of his whereabouts.

The misleading claim was made by a YouTube channel with the username @TopTrendingNews13, potentially with the aim of capitalising on the well-known journalist’s social media popularity to gain followers.

In truth, the video was originally uploaded by Riaz himself on his YouTube channel on 11 July 2022, just before Eid at that time. The vlog was created shortly after his previous release from police custody, an event that received widespread media coverage.

Imran Riaz’s disappearance is a high-profile case that has also garnered international attention. He was arrested twice by authorities in July 2022 and February 2023 on charges of sedition.

Virality:

The video has been disseminated by users across social media platforms with the same misleading information with examples present here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Veteran journalist Haroon Rasheed who had shared the video, later took to twitter to apologise for sharing the misleading video.

Verdict:

An old video of Imran Riaz has been recirculated with information suggesting that Imran Riaz has been released and has recorded a vlog. Both the caption and the graphics included in the video are misleading.