Fact-check: Deepfake video misleads viewers about Aleema Khanum's Sky News interview

Recently, Aleema Khanum appeared on Sky News to talk about her jailed brother and former prime minister Imran Khan. Shortly after the interview aired, a clip began circulating in which an online user accused Khanum of calling Khan “an asset of the West” who also wants to “befriend” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s ruling party.

The claim is false. Khanum made no such comment.

Claim

A user on X (formerly Twitter) posted a one-minute clip of Aleema Khanum from her December 2 Sky News interview. The video was captioned: “Now this is insane! What is Aleema Khanum sabhiba upto? She is speaking as if she is a BJP leader!”

In the alleged footage, Yalda Hakim, the interviewer, asks Khanum why Pakistan went to war with India in May. Khan’s sister can then be heard criticising the military and replying: “Imran Khan is pure liberal. So, whenever Imran Khan comes to power, you will see that he always tries to befriend India and even BJP… I keep telling again and again that Imran Khan is an asset, and the West needs to increase its efforts to free Imran.”

At the time of writing, the post had been viewed over 18,500 times, reposted 148 times and liked 343 times.

Similar claims had also been shared here and here.

Fact

Aleema Khanum did not make any such remarks about Imran Khan in the Sky News interview. Independent verification confirms the clip circulating online was created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

Geo Fact Check reviewed the entire interview available on the official Sky News YouTube channel, aired on December 2, as well as the live broadcast from that day.

Neither does the host, Yalda Hakim, ask the question about India, nor does Aleema Khanum give the response shown in the viral clip.

The entire interview can be viewed here:

Separately, Hiya, a deepfake voice detector, gave the audio an authenticity score of 1 out of 100, meaning it is a deepfake audio.

Geo Fact Check also contacted journalist Yalda Hakim, who confirmed via messages that Khanum did not make any such remarks.

“She absolutely did not make those statements,” wrote Hakim.

It must also be noted that in the online clip the voice of Hakim has been slowed down, which is another indicator that the clip was manipulated.

Verdict: The viral video is manipulated. Aleema Khanum did not describe Imran Khan as “an asset of the West,” nor did she say he wants to “befriend the BJP.” The statements circulating online were created using AI-generated audio and do not appear anywhere in her Sky News interview.

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