Viral visual of ARY News bulletin quoting Rana Sanaullah saying Imran Khan will be released this week on humanitarian grounds

RATING JUSTIFICATION

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

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a forensic analysis and sought comment from ARY News regarding the authenticity of the circulating visuals.

Multiple people, including users who appear to be PTI supporters based on their past posts, were sharing an alleged ARY News visual on social media platform X since May 13, 2026, quoting Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah as saying that ex-premier Imran Khan would be released “this week” on humanitarian grounds. However, the image is fabricated, and the outlet did not run any such news.

The former prime minister — who has been imprisoned since 2023 for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts — is serving a 14-year sentence at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail in the £190 million corruption case.

Imran’s party and family allege that he is being kept in solitary confinement, with restrictions on visitors meeting him in jail. They repeatedly raise concerns over his medical treatment, after it surfaced in January that he suffered an eye ailment. His sons, Qasim Khan and Sulaiman Khan, have also been campaigning for his release.

HOW IT STARTED

On May 13, an account that appears to be pro-PTI based on its past posts and bio, shared an image on X of an ARY News bulletin showing Sanaullah sharing the news that Imran would be released soon, with the following caption: “Imran Khan is going to be released this week. Is this true??”

The post gained 129,500 views.

Another pro-PTI account on X shared the same image the same day, questioning the news with the caption: “Can anyone confirm this news? ”

The post gained 112,400 views.

Subsequently, other users on X also shared the same image, as can be seen here, here, here, and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to keen public interest in Imran’s incarceration and speculation surrounding his possible release from Adiala Jail.

A keyword search to corroborate whether ARY News or any other credible Pakistani or international media outlets had recently reported any such remarks from Sanaullah did not yield any results.

Inspecting the image for visual discrepancies showed that Sanaullah’s ears appeared noticeably blurred and distorted.

The yellow colour used for the Urdu “بریکنگ نیوز” (Breaking News) label was also slightly darker than the outlet‘s original broadcast graphics in the breaking news box. Additionally, the “LIVE” bug and “ARY NEWS” logo appearing at the bottom-right corner were blurry and of lower resolution compared to the rest of the frame, indicating possible digital manipulation.

Analysing the image using forensic tools Fake Image Detector showed that it flagged the image as a 100 per cent “computer-generated or modified image”.

When contacted for comment on the matter, Fayyaz Hyder Mangi, head of assignment at ARY News, provided the following response:

“This is false information. We never broadcast this news. The absence of our single red ticker line above the English ticker further confirms that this was fabricated using our colour scheme and branding to mislead viewers.”

Furthermore, no statements of any kind on the issue were also found from the PTI leadership, social media pages or Imran’s family.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that an ARY News visual shows a quote from Rana Sanaullah about Imran Khan’s release this week on humanitarian grounds is false.

The visual is fake, and the outlet did not air any such news, nor did Sanaullah make any such comments.