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  • 2021-12-09 (xsd:date)
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  • This photo shows a Pakistani judge with another judge -- not a political leader (en)
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  • A photo has circulated repeatedly in social media posts alongside a claim it shows Athar Minallah, chief justice of the Islamabad High Court, with a leader of a local chapter of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) political party. The post goes on to suggest the photo is evidence for why a senior leader of the PML-N was granted bail in a high-profile corruption case in Pakistan. The photo has been shared in a false context; the man pictured on the left of Minallah is Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, a judge in Pakistan's Supreme Court. The photo was shared on Twitter on November 28, 2021. It has been retweeted more than 1000 times. The post claims the photo shows Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah with the President of PML-N's UK chapter. Text superimposed on the bottom of the image reads in Urdu: Justice Athar Minallah with [PML-N president] in London. Look at the car. You don’t get bail just like that. The post suggests the photo is evidence of Minallah's support for Maryam Nawaz -- a vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), one of the main opposition parties in Pakistan. She was convicted in a high-profile corruption case in July 2018 after it emerged she purchased UK properties using offshore companies owned by her father, Nawaz Sharif. Pakistani newspaper Dawn News reported she was released from jail in September 2018 after the Islamabad High Court granted her bail and suspended her prison sentence. The post's Urdu-language caption translates to English as: Maryam Nawaz’s case has been burning in the Islamabad High Court [since 2018] and there have been 16 adjournments!! If anyone asks the reason, tell them this. Screenshot of the photo falsely claiming to show a Pakistan judge with a member of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N). Taken on December 7, 2021/ ( AFP / ) Comments from some social media users suggested they were misled by the post. One wrote in Urdu: This should lead to contempt of court proceedings! Another wrote in romanised Urdu: Some bastard Pakistani judges work on the directives of [Maryam Nawaz's] family. The photo has been shared alongside a similar claim on Twitter here , here and here ; and on Facebook here , here , here and here . The claim, however, is false. The photo shows Minallah with Pakistan Supreme Court (SC) Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah . The photo previously circulated in 2019 posts about the two judges attending a judicial training conference in South Africa. Below is a screenshot comparing the photo in the posts (left) with photos of the two judges taken from the IHC and SC websites (right): Screenshot comparing the photo in the posts (left) with images of the judges (right). Taken on December 7, 2021. ( AFP / ) Saqib Bashir , President of the Islamabad High Court Journalists Association, told AFP that the photo shows the two judges. Yes it's confirmed that the photo [shows] Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mansoor, he said. Neither judge is listed as a leader on the PML-N website's leadership page . PML-N's Twitter account identified Zubair Gull as the President of the party's UK chapter in 2016. He is not pictured in the misleading posts. Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo of the two judges (L) with a screengrab of PML-N's Twitter video showing Zubair Gull (R): Screenshot comparing the two judges (left) with Zubair Gull (right). Taken on December 8, 2021. ( AFP / ) (en)
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