Viral medical document of Imran Khan’s alleged sexual assault in prison

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan analysed the document for visual discrepancies, ran it through fake image-detecting software and conducted a keyword search to corroborate the alleged development.

Posts from multiple Indian users on social media platform X on May 2, 2025, shared an alleged medical evaluation summary from the Pak Emirates Military Hospital in Rawalpindi about PTI founder Imran Khan’s suspected sexual assault in Adiala Jail. However, the document is fake and no such incident has occurred.

Relations between Pakistan and India have turned exceedingly sour since an attack took place in Pahalgam, a tourist hotspot in India-occupied Kashmir that draws thousands of visitors every summer, on April 22. Gunmen opened fire on visitors, killing at least 26 people — all men from across India except one from Nepal — and injuring 17 others. Following the attack, India, without providing evidence, implied that attackers had links to Pakistan, an allegation that Islamabad has vehemently refuted.

The incident led to a severe downgrading of ties between the two countries. Since then, the Indian mainstream and social media outlets have been spreading propaganda against Pakistan.

Meanwhile, despite some acquittals and suspended sentences, Imran remains in Adiala Jail due to ongoing legal proceedings as of May 5, 2025. He has been acquitted in 16 out of the 33 cases filed against him since 2022. In January 2025, Imran was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption related to the Al-Qadir University Project Trust.

HOW IT STARTED

On May 2, an Indian X user shared an image of a medical document, allegedly from the Pak Emirates Military Hospital in Rawalpindi, that apparently said sexual assault was suspected in Imran’s case.

The caption of the post said: “Imran Khan raped in custody confirms Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi.”

The post gained 2.6 million views and was re-shared 4,800 times.

The viral document with the same claim was also shared here, here, here, here, here and here, gaining a combined total of over 1m views.

At the same time, many Indian users shared the document along with a screenshot from an alleged report by leading English news outlet Dawn.com titled, “Leaked Medical Report Confirms Sexual Assault on Imran Khan in Custody by a Army Major”, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, with a combined total of over 233,000 views.

Several Indian accounts also circulated a news bulletin from media outlet India News on the alleged incident and viral document.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its immensely high virality, the seriously concerning nature of the claim and keen public interest in affairs of the incarcerated former prime minister.

A keyword search to locate the alleged Dawn.com article yielded no such report on the new outlet’s website or any other leading mainstream media outlet for May 3.

The iVerify Pakistan team also contacted the editor at Dawn.com to verify whether any such report had ever been published. Dawn.com news editor Bilal Farooqi confirmed that “no such story was reported on by the digital desk on May 3 or any other date.”

Analysing the alleged medical document highlighted an immediate discrepancy in that it was dated May 3, 2025, and yet the account with 2.6m views that shared it had done so on May 2.

Furthermore, the contact number (+92-51-927-1002) was also found to be “not in anyone’s use” as per the operator.

Analysing the document using multiple image analysis tools, including Hive Moderation and Sightengine, did not flag it for potential fabrication through artificial intelligence. However, Fake Image Detector concluded that the document was likely computer-generated or digitally modified.

Additionally, analysing the alleged Dawn.com report screenshot using AI-based forensic tool FotoForensics revealed significant blurriness and distortion throughout the image, especially around the text, an indicator of potential digital manipulation.

In contrast, when a screenshot of a report from Dawn.com‘s official website was analysed using the same tool, no overt blurriness of the text was indicated.

A side-by-side visual comparison further highlighted key discrepancies. In the alleged screenshot, each word in the headline is in uppercase — unlike Dawn.com’s actual headline style, which only capitalises selected words.

The format for the dateline is also different, as the alleged report uses “May 03, 2025” while a comparison with three stories published by Dawn.com on May 3 shows they use “May 3, 2025”.

Furthermore, such an incident, if it had actually happened or even rumoured to have happened, could reasonably be expected to become a highly contentious and public political issue due to the significant popularity the party and former prime minister command and yet there was no response to the matter or addressal of any kind from the PTI or Imran’s lawyers and relatives.

iVerify Pakistan had conducted a previous fact-check as well on a fake screenshot of an alleged Dawn.com report that did not exist, which was also spread by Indian propaganda accounts and users amid the Pahalgam tensions.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim about supposed medical documents and a viral screenshot of an alleged Dawn.com report about PTI founder Imran Khan’s suspected sexual assault in prison by an army official is false.

The alleged documents and screenshot present several glaring inconsistencies, and no credible mainstream news outlet in the Pakistani or international media reported or even mentioned such an incident, even from sources.

Evidence and References