Viral Allegations About Imran Khan Stir Controversy—But Don't Hold Up
Social media in Pakistan exploded when a so-called medical report surfaced accusing former Prime Minister Imran Khan of being sexually assaulted in jail. This document, allegedly from the Pak Emirates Military Hospital (PEMH) in Rawalpindi, made waves late on May 2, 2025, but soon ran into a dead end. The first big problem? The report was dated a day in the future—May 3, 2025. That set off alarm bells right away, raising serious doubts about where this information was coming from and whether it had any basis in fact at all.
Fact-checkers jumped right in. Within hours of the post taking off on Twitter, Pakistani officials and several health experts pointed out clear problems: Imran Khan’s real check-ups hadn’t even happened at PEMH—they were done at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad. Medical staff from PIMS, not PEMH, are responsible for inmate health evaluations in high-profile cases like Khan’s. The Twitter account that started the rumor seemed to rely on a document with mismatched time stamps and suspicious institutional affiliations. No surprise, then, that it quickly landed in the realm of fake news.
The Ongoing Saga Around Imran Khan’s Jailing
This isn’t just a story about an isolated online hoax. Since his arrest in August 2023, Imran Khan has spent his days in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, while facing several serious charges. The biggest headline grabber: a 14-year sentence for land corruption tied to the Al-Qadir Trust. All the while, Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has been vocal about his well-being, raising alarms about limited access to proper medical care and even preventing his family visits. It wasn’t long before those with axes to grind against Khan—or those trying to stir public anger—latched onto the viral "medical report" as further proof that he’s being mistreated behind bars.
But the playbook here is getting old. Just last year, fake health reports swirled online about Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s sitting Prime Minister, painting him as gravely ill. These moves aren't just about embarrassing public figures—they capitalize on people’s anxieties and can quickly change the mood online. Trouble is, with major media outlets like Dawn picking up on these stories, it can take on a life of its own before the facts get sorted out.
So far, there’s no sign the authorities have found the source of the leak, or if there ever was a real "leak" in the first place. What’s clear is that the back-and-forth between Khan’s supporters and government critics can turn just about anything—especially a forged document—into political ammunition. For now, it’s a reminder that in the digital age, fake news can travel faster than the truth, especially in a country where political tensions are always at the surface.