Fake visuals falsely claim PTI supporter killed in Rawalpindi was innocent

Viral social media visuals falsely claiming that a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporter killed by police in Rawalpindi was innocent and had been abducted before his death are fake. A fact-check by iVerify Pakistan found no such report was published by Express Digital or any other credible domestic outlet.

What do the fake visuals claim?

The fake visuals show fabricated screenshots designed to look like Express Digital reporting. They claim Muhammad Hussain, the PTI supporter killed by police, was abducted two days before his death and was later wrongly portrayed as an attacker. iVerify Pakistan rated the claim false after finding no matching report from Express Digital or other credible media.

Who was Muhammad Hussain?

Hussain was shot dead by law enforcement officials on Rawalpindi's Mall Road on Aug. 11, after allegedly opening fire on a security patrol and injuring one official. Police identified him as the son of Muhammad Baaz and a resident of Khyber Agency. They said they recovered a pistol, bullets, a political party flag, a cap and a mobile phone from him, and registered a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act with Rawalpindi's Crime Control Department.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar identified Hussain as an "active member" of PTI and accused the party of pursuing the "politics of violence," referencing its planned long march to Islamabad on Sept. 27. PTI denied any organizational link to Hussain. PTI Islamabad Regional President Amir Mughal rejected Tarar's claims, while Shafi Jan, an aide to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's chief minister, acknowledged Hussain may have been a supporter but said he held no party position. PTI also called for an independent judicial inquiry into the incident.

How did the fake visuals spread?

The first fake visual was shared on X on Aug. 11 by a PTI supporter using an Express Digital breaking-news template and Hussain's photograph. It attributed a false statement to Hussain's mother claiming he had been abducted two days earlier, and the post received about 11,000 views. Another PTI supporter shared the same screenshot on Facebook, captioned "Express Digital News, drama exposed," gaining 1,200 likes.

A second fake visual claimed Hussain "wasn't a terrorist" and that police had admitted killing an innocent man by mistake, receiving about 43,000 views on X. A separate pro-PTI account shared the same screenshot asking who was responsible, gathering roughly 2,900 views.

How did iVerify Pakistan confirm the visuals were fake?

iVerify Pakistan began its fact-check due to the claim's rapid spread and public interest in Hussain's death. Its team ran keyword and reverse-image searches and found no report from Express News or other credible outlets stating Hussain was innocent or abducted. The investigation also found Express Digital had been dormant for over a year, with its Facebook and YouTube pages showing no activity since March and July 2025, respectively.

Muhammad Haris, a senior YouTube executive at Express News, confirmed the platform never published such a report. Express News correspondent Khalid Mehmood also said nothing of the sort had been reported. A closer look at the visuals found inconsistencies including an altered logo, with "express" in uppercase instead of lowercase and a black rather than white "digital" text box, along with Urdu text that did not match the outlet's usual graphic style.

iVerify Pakistan concluded the visuals are fake and that no media outlet reported Hussain was innocent or abducted before his death.