Reports circulated on social media on Saturday claiming that Imran Khan, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and World Cup-winning cricket captain, had died while in prison, where he is currently serving a sentence. These unverified claims, allegedly based on a press release, quickly sparked widespread concern and outrage among his supporters.
However, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting dismissed the reports, labelling the press release announcing Khan’s death as “fake” and urging the public to disregard such “irresponsible behaviour.”
Earlier the same day, an undated statement attributed to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs alleged that Khan had died in judicial custody and that an investigation into the circumstances of his death was underway.
Imran Khan Niazi is a prominent Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former international cricketer. He served as the 19th Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to April 2022 and founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party, which he chaired from 1996 until 2023.
Born in Lahore, Khan graduated from Keble College, University of Oxford. He began his international cricket career in 1971 during a Test series against England. Khan is credited with mastering the technique of reverse swing bowling, which he learned from Sarfraz Nawaz and later taught to legendary fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who further developed and popularized it.
