Video of Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traore demanding Imran Khan’s immediate release

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image and keyword search to find the original video.

Posts from several PTI-affiliated accounts on social media platforms X and TikTok since May 29, 2025, circulated a video, claiming that it showed Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traore calling for the immediate release of PTI founder Imran Khan. However, the viral clip is a deepfake.

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

HOW IT STARTED

On May 29, an X user, who is a PTI supporter based on his profile picture and past posts, shared a 49-second clip showing the Burkina Faso president demanding Imran’s immediate release in a speech at an event.

In the clip, Traore said: “I am the elected president of Africa, and today I want to deliver a message to every corner of the world. People of Pakistan, you should be ashamed. Your leader, Imran Khan — who is not just the leader of Pakistan but of the entire Muslim Ummah— is in jail today. Are you sitting silently? Do you not have any pride? Have you forgotten that he fought for you, that he went to jail for you? We in Africa respect him, consider him our brother — and I am awakened. I will raise my voice at the United Nations. I will tell the world that Imran Khan is not just an asset of Pakistan but of the entire Ummah. Since the people of Pakistan did not awaken, listen — the people of Africa will awaken, and they will free their brother from this imprisonment. Free Imran Khan. This is the time for unity, the time for pride. Pakistan, the decision is now yours.”

The post received 255,400 views and was shared 6,100 times.

The same video of the African leader was shared by several other PTI supporters on X with the same caption here, here, here and here. The posts collectively garnered more than 84,000 views.

The same clip can also be found on TikTok here, here, here, here, here and here, gathering 273,513 views altogether.

None of the social media users mentioned the details or provided more context as to where and when the Burkina Faso president addressed the public or made a statement regarding Imran.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in Imran and all developments related to him.

Analysing the viral clip showed several inconsistencies, including unnatural facial movements such as Traore’s face repeatedly moving in a circular pattern, along with noticeable discrepancies between lip movements and the accompanying audio.

This is a common characteristic of manipulated videos, as highlighted in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s guide on detecting deepfakes.

Furthermore, Traore’s eyes did not blink throughout the video. Overall, his appearance in the video lacked the natural texture and behavior of a real human, strongly suggesting digital manipulation.

Analysis of the video using tools to detect manipulation revealed that Hive Moderation indicated a 98.8 per cent likelihood that the video was AI-generated while Attestiv assigned it an 82pc suspicion rating and Deepware explicitly flagged the video as containing deepfake content.

Keyword searches for “Ibrahim Traore”, “Imran Khan” and “release” yielded no news reports on the matter from any credible domestic or international media outlet.

Furthermore, no official statements from the Burkina Faso government or its representatives were found to be issued in support of the viral claim.

A longer May 27 YouTube video of the African leader was found with the same background, clothing and posture. The video itself exhibited signs of being a deepfake but notably, did not contain any portion about Imran.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a video shows Burkina Faso’s leader Ibrahim Traore speaking in favour of Imran Khan and calling for his immediate release from jail is false.

The video is a deepfake and no credible news outlet has reported on the alleged development.

Evidence and References

May 27, 2025, YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnhdJVN-VeE