Fact-check: No, video does not show Imran Khan's nephew Shahrez Khan at the 2014 dharna

Following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan’s nephew Shahrez Khan on August 21, a video began circulating online allegedly showing him dancing during the 2014 protest sit-in staged by his uncle in Islamabad.

The footage prompted online users to make derogatory and insulting remarks against Shahrez and his family.

The claim is false. The video does not feature Shahrez.

Claim

On August 22, a user on X (formerly Twitter) with the handle @DrSyedaSadaf_ posted a 25-second clip of a person dancing. The caption read: “A rare video of Aleema Khan’s son Shahrez. This video is from the 2014 sit-in [of Imran Khan in Islamabad]. Aleema Khan’s son Shahrez is homosexual. This family is cursed.”

At the time of writing, the post had been viewed over 57,000 times, reposted 288 times and liked more than 780 times.

Fact

The video is not of Aleema's son, who is also Imran's nephew, Shahrez, dancing at the 2014 sit-in. The clip is recent and was uploaded by a TikToker.

In 2014, Imran's PTI staged a months-long dharna in Islamabad, demanding the resignation of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and an investigation into alleged rigging in the 2013 general election.

A reverse image search by Geo Fact Check using keyframes from the clip led to a Facebook post uploaded by an account titled Khizar Pathani on August 8. The video shows Pathani dancing at an event. The original video can be viewed here:

Pathani has more than 33,000 followers on Facebook and over 182,000 on TikTok, where content is shared by the account.

It is also clear that the person in the video bears no resemblance to Shahrez Khan.

The X account “Dr Syeda Sadaf” (@DrSyedaSadaf_) has previously been debunked multiple times by Geo Fact Check for spreading misinformation and false news about opposition political parties and the families of victims of the enforced disappearances.

These fact-checks can be viewed here, here, here and here.

Verdict: The claim is false. The video does not show Aleema's son Shahrez dancing.

Follow us on @GeoFactCheck on X (Twitter) and @geo_factcheck on Instagram. If our readers detect any errors, we encourage them to contact us at [email protected]