Comparison picture of Imran Khan’s room in Adiala jail to Maryam Nawaz’s room in Sihala Rest House

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team checked different news stories to corroborate the claim regarding Maryam Nawaz’s facilities at the Sihala Rest House when it was declared a sub-jail for her to serve out her sentence in 2018.

Multiple posts have been circulating on social media, particularly on X, since June 6, 2024, showing a comparison of Imran Khan’s room in Adiala Jail to Maryam Nawaz’s room in Sihala rest house when she was convicted in 2018. However, Maryam had never moved to the sub-jail and continued to stay at Adiala Jail along with her father and husband.

PTI founder Imran Khan is currently incarcerated in Adiala jail in the Iddat case. On February 3, an Islamabad court sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to seven years in jail each for marrying during the Iddat period.

The Adiala Jail administration has provided Imran with a room cooler to protect against the heat in Rawalpindi. This, along with several other facilities provided to him, was disclosed by the government to the Supreme Court in documents and images submitted on June 6.

Maryam was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined Rs335 million in the Avenfield reference on July 6, 2018.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 6, 2024, a picture was shared by Shakir Mehmood Awan, a journalist working with Hum News, with the caption, “You can compare the facilities provided to Maryam Nawaz and Imran Khan in jail.”

The post was seen by more than 113,000 users.

The same picture was then shared by a PTI supporter and gained over 20,000 views. The caption of his post said, “Death cell”.

The same claim with the same caption was shared by different X users as well here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the matter due to the issue concerning the PTI founder and Punjab chief minister.

To investigate the claim, a reverse image search was conducted on the images of the room alleged to be Maryam’s and the result showed that it was of a room from Sihala Rest House. The images were circulated in the media in July 2018.

A keyword search for “Sihala House” and “Maryam Nawaz” yielded news stories published by various media outlets.

The first news story found was published by Dawn on July 21, 2018, with the headline, “Nawaz, Maryam unlikely to be shifted to Sihala”.

According to the story, despite being allowed by the Islamabad chief commissioner, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam were unlikely to be transferred to the Sihala Rest House due to inadequate security.

The report said the Islamabad chief commissioner had ordered the father, daughter and her husband to be to the Sihala Rest House situated inside the Sihala Police Training College.

“Sources said that it was twice or thrice attempted to shift Maryam Nawaz to Sihala Rest House but she firmly refused as she did when asked to apply for the Better Class,” the report said, adding that she was “staying like an ordinary prisoner” at Adiala Jail.

A second news story reporting the same was published by Geo News on July 20, 2018, with the headline, “Maryam refuses to be shifted to Sihala Rest House: sources”.

The report said the Islamabad chief commissioner had declared the rest house as a sub-jail for the PML-N leaders but Maryam had refused to go there.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding the difference in quality of facilities afforded to Imran and Maryam by comparing the pictures of his prison cell with the image of a room at Sihala Rest House is false.

Maryam was allowed to move to Sihala Rest House but she never actually went there and continued to serve out her sentence in Adiala Jail with her father and husband.

Evidence and References

June 21, 2018, Dawn report:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1421395/nawaz-maryam-unlikely-to-be-shifted-to-sihala

June 20, 2018, Geo News report:
https://www.geo.tv/latest/204092-maryam-refuses-to-be-shifted-at-sihala-rest-house-sources