It came to light when thousands of Khan’s supporters collected in the Sangjani area of Islamabad in support of the former prime minister, despite attempts by authorities to block major roads leading to the capital (archived link).
The demonstration, led by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was the largest in Islamabad since the retired international cricketer was jailed in 2023 on several charges, some of which are still before the courts.
Khan and his party insist the charges against him are aimed at preventing him from returning to office.
The photo was shared alongside similar false claims elsewhere on Facebook And social media platform Xbut the photo was actually taken nine years earlier in China.
Traffic jam in China
A reverse image search resulted in the same photo that was on the website of the Irish Independent on October 8, 2015 (archived link).
The article is titled: “World’s Worst Traffic Jam? Thousands Stranded in 50-Lane Traffic Jam in China”.
The photo, courtesy of Reuters/China Daily, is captioned: “Vehicles are stuck in a traffic jam at a toll station as people head home at the end of a week-long national holiday, in Beijing, China, October 6, 2015.”
The article states that the images show the ‘G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway’.
Below is a screenshot of the photo in the fake news story (left) and the photo used in the Irish Independent (right):
The same photo was also used in similar articles published by the Huffington Post And Evening standard and on October 7 and 8, 2015 (archived links) here And here).
It was also used illustratively in articles on easing traffic congestion published by the China Daily in August 2016 And January 2017 (archived links here And here).
AFP has traced the photo to a toll booth on the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau highway on the outskirts of Beijing.
AFP has repeatedly debunked misinformation about Khan.
