Photoshoot with religious dimension to politically promote Shahid Afridi

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team conducted a reverse image and keyword search to investigate the image and its details.

Multiple posts circulating on social media platform X on June 30, 2024, sharing pictures of former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi praying, alleged that it was part of a stint to politically promote him. However, the image is from an old Ramazan ad from 2015.

Afridi has recently faced criticism on social media from PTI supporters who allege that he is being propped up against party founder Imran Khan. The controversy was further intensified by the resurfacing of an old clip where former captain Younis Khan speaks against Afridi. Additionally, Afridi became entangled in a situation regarding whether he posed for photographs with Israeli supporters.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 30, 2024, PTI leader Shahbaz Gill posted a picture of Shahid Afridi offering prayer, as well as a behind-the-scenes image, on his X account. Gill posed the question, “The launch of a new leader with an Islamic touch?”

He did not identify or tell where and when the alleged image was from or provide any other relevant contextual details about it.

The post received more than 423,000 views on X.

Similar posts were shared here, 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 since it related to the PTI and Afridi.

A reverse image search showed that the picture of Afridi praying was shared as far back as 2015 and 2016.

A keyword search was carried out for “Shahid Afridi”, “Ramazan” and “TV commercial” since the behind-the-scenes image showed it to be a photo shoot of some kind.

The search showed that the image of Afridi praying was sourced from a June 22, 2015, video uploaded to his Facebook account.

The video was a 2015 Ramazan TV commercial for the Shahid Afridi Foundation and was sponsored by Haier Mobiles.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim that photos showing Shahid Afridi offering his prayers in a mosque are part of some sort of a political launch is misleading.

The viral image is from a 2015 Ramazan TV commercial for his charity foundation but without mentioning the time and context clearly, the audience could be misled by looking at the image at first glance and thinking that it was from some political imagebuilding project due to the text of the people sharing it.

Evidence and References

Shahid Afridi Facebook post June 22, 2015:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=915899811806111