Fact-check: Old clip of Lebanese leader falsely shared as PM Shehbaz falling

A short video clip, which has racked up millions of views, is being shared with the claim that it shows Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tripping and falling face down in front of world leaders during a summit in Jordan.

The claim is incorrect. The clip is unrelated to Pakistan and does not show the prime minister.

Claim

On March 5, a Facebook user posted a video footage showing world leaders assembling as a man stumbles and falls. The text accompanying the clip read: “Shehbaz Sharif became dizzy during the meeting.”

The post had garnered over 2.7 million views and more than 13,000 likes, at the time of writing.

The same claim was repeated in other posts on Facebook and Instagram.

Fact

The man in the video is not Prime Minister Shehbaz. In reality, the video is from 2017 and shows the then Lebanon president stumbling at the Arab League Summit in Jordan.

A reverse image search traced the footage back to the official Facebook account of Middle East Eye (MEE), a UK-based digital news outlet. The MEE posted the video on March 29, 2017, identifying the man as then Lebanese President Michel Aoun taking a “tumble at the Arab League Summit.”

The MEE report can be seen here:

The same incident was reported by BBC NEWS Arabic and Reuters on the day it occurred. BBC NEWS report can be viewed here, while Reuters report can be read here.

Separately, no credible Pakistani media organisation has recently reported any such incident involving Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Verdict: The video does not show Prime Minister Shehbaz. It is an old clip from 2017 of Lebanon’s former president Michel.

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