By: Toibah Kirmani
June 13 2023
No, this video doesn't show a Pakistani man beating Nawaz Sharif's son
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The incident was captured in Toronto, and the man in the video is not former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son Hassan.
Claim ID ff02ffaa
Context
A video showing a person being assaulted on the street is being shared on social media claiming that the person being beaten is Hassan Nawaz, son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. A Twitter user shared the video and captioned it, “A Pakistani beating Hassan Nawaz the son of former prime minister of Pakistan. The reason is not confirmed, but according to some sources, the person demands Hassan Nawaz to pay back his money (sic).” The video has 69.1k views and 323 likes till now. Other users also shared this video and claimed that the incident happened in London, U.K.
Sharif, who served three times: in 1990, 1997, and 2013 has faced numerous allegations of corruption and misconduct, resulting in several investigations. Following a no-confidence vote that led to Imran Khan's removal as prime minister, Sharif's brother, Shehbaz Sharif, was chosen as the new prime minister on April 11, 2022.
In Fact
Through analyzing the comments section, numerous individuals pointed out that the street depicted in the footage did not resemble those in U.K., and the accent of the police officer in the video did not sound British. So, we did a reverse image search on the video's keyframes and found that the video is from early May. The footage captures an incident in Toronto, Canada, where a man allegedly used a pet python as a weapon during a street fight.
The video was also posted by the Economic Times on YouTube, accompanied by the subtitle: "Man uses his pet python as a weapon during a street fight in Canada's Toronto." It must be noted that Hasan Nawaz lives in London and not Canada.
According to a Global News Canada report, the incident occurred on May 10 at 11:50 p.m. Police were called to the scene after receiving reports of a man threatening people with a python. It stated that an individual was walking down the street carrying a live snake and approached a person resulting in a physical altercation where the snake was allegedly used as a weapon.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that the Toronto police responded to a physical altercation in Toronto’s Dundas Street West and Manning Avenue area. The report added that in a press release, the police said that the “man used the python to attack the victim” and that he has been charged with “assault with a weapon and unnecessary pain/suffering to an animal.”
No verifiable information indicates Hasan Nawaz's presence in Canada during this incident.
The Verdict
The video does not show a Pakistani man beating Hassan Nawaz, the son of the former Pakistan Prime Minister. The video captures an incident in Toronto where a man allegedly used a pet python as a weapon during a street fight. The incident occurred in May 2023, and reputable news sources in Canada have reported it. Hence, we rate this claim as false.