Fact-check: Edited video of Qazi Faez Isa on Imran Khan's cases goes viral

A video circulating on social media claims to show the former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Qazi Faez Isa, stating in an interview that his role in the judgments against former prime minister Imran Khan was “limited” and that the establishment influenced the court cases.

The claim is false, as the clip has been doctored.

Claim

On March 8, an account on YouTube, with over 485,000 subscribers, posted a video purportedly featuring the former chief justice.

The video, captioned, “Qazi Faez Isa shocking interview in London,” includes a 54-second clip in which Isa is allegedly asked if he has a “personal enmity” with Khan. The interviewer further implies that it seemed Isa was “in no mood to do justice” in cases related to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

In the clip, Isa is purportedly heard responding: “Look, Pakistan’s system is a bit complicated. If you think as the chief justice I had all the powers, then you are wrong. My role in all the cases you are talking about was limited. Some forces that are not visible on the media also have an impact in these cases, which I cannot name here.”

The video garnered over 50,000 views at the time of writing.

A screenshot from the video was also shared on X (formerly Twitter), with the caption: “In Pakistan, justice is only done if the army wants it. Some generals had ordered to keep Khan under pressure, former chief justice said in the interview.”

Fact

This claim is false. No such statement was made by former chief justice Qazi Faez Isa in the interview from which these clips and screenshots have been shared online.

The actual interview took place on October 9, 2022, during a session at the Oxford Union, a debating society at the University of Oxford. It is important to note that this interview was recorded before Isa even became chief justice of Pakistan. He was elevated to the position in September 2023, while the interview was filmed in 2022.

Geo Fact Check reviewed the full one-hour interview posted on the official YouTube channel of the Oxford Union. The interview does not include any questions or discussions related to Imran Khan, nor does Qazi Faez Isa make any claims about his role being limited or the establishment influencing court cases.

The complete interview can be viewed below.

Furthermore, in the viral video clips, the words spoken do not align with the former judge’s lip movements, indicating the footage has been edited. This is a common sign of manipulated videos, as pointed out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) guide on detecting deepfakes.

For more information on how to spot deepfakes, read MIT's guide here.

Verdict: The video circulating online misrepresents the 2022 interview with Qazi Faez Isa. The former chief justice did not claim that his role in the cases was limited or that the establishment influenced the decisions. The footage has been edited to mislead viewers.

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