A man from Pakistan’s third-largest city Rawalpindi has told AFP he was mistaken for a right chairman of the former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan‘s illegal marriage case in messages where he threw money at a dancer. The posts – viewed hundreds of thousands of times – circulated as Khan and his third wife appealed their conviction from prison.
The video also shows Chaudhry Asad, a resident of Rawalpindi when he performs as “Papu Patwari”, where he throws money at a woman dressed in white as she dances in a large hall.
“This is the honorable judge who has to give judgment in the iddat case,” reads an Urdu language caption next to the video shared on X on May 29.
The post, which has been viewed more than 394,000 times, referred to a judge who presided over Khan’s “illegal marriage” case. Similar messages were shared TikTok And X.
Khan was was sentenced to seven years in prison for violating Islamic law by marrying his third wife Bushra Bibi too soon after her divorce.
The conviction was based on an Islamic law known as “iddat”, which requires a widow or divorced woman to wait three months before remarrying. Khan and his wife have appealed the verdict from prison.
Local fact-checking organizations Geofact check And iVerify debunked the claim in the false messages and identified the man as Asad through a series of online searches (archived links here And here).