Multiple users on the Social Network Platform X have been sharing an alleged document since Thursday, entitled “Catering guidelines” of Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC, where the children of the founder of PTI Imran Khan recently had dinner during their visit to the capital of the United States, stating that the club does not serve the Halal food. However, the document is false.
Earlier this month, the children of Imran, Sulaiman Khan, 28, and Kasim Khan, 26, began a campaign that requested the liberation of their father from prison. The brothers are currently in the United States and have commitments with legislators for this purpose in Washington, DC.
On July 25, PML-N Digital’s account shared a publication with an image of the two brothers in Capitol Hill Club, a private club house in Washington, DC, with Republican congressman Joe Wilson.
The publication was subtitled: “Illicit celebration of the children of Imran Niazi”, with an additional claim: “Capitol Hill Club, where they ate Kasim and Sulaiman, do not even have available halic food.”
The publication also shared an alleged document that claims to show the club’s catering guidelines.
The last paragraph of the document says: “If the guaranteed number decreases significantly, for the original expected guests they should reserve the right to change the room to a more appropriate size. We do not offer Halal or Kosher food according to the restaurant policy”
The publication was shared at 11:32 am, and the account is followed by the official PML-N account.
A similar publication with the same alleged document and subtitles was shared a day before, on July 24, by an X user who is critical of PTI, according to his previous publications.
The legend of its publication said: “The biggest test has arrived. Imran’s children ate at Capitol Hill Club, this is the club’s menu card, he details the food and also states that Halal and Kosher are not served in the club. Therefore, the meat was pork, young people are convincing food and lying.”
Its publication received more than 63,000 visits.
The alleged document and subtitles were amplified by a regional PML-N official in X.
Pro-PML accounts also shared the same publication, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Pro-military accounts also distributed the claim as you can see here and here.
An influencer of social networks also shared the alleged document about X.
In addition, it was shared on Facebook here and here.
A verification of facts began to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality, a great public interest in the children of Imran and to address the harmful potential impact of such rumors on them.
The review of the document through tools for detecting false and AI images, such as the false image detector, showed that it marked it as “computer or modified”, while another version of the tool said that the authenticity of the document was 25 percent with the general score at 66pc, which indicates a “moderate probability of manipulation.”
Verify the Capitol Hill Club website around 12 PM, none of its menu documents, from breakfast to lunch, dinner and reception, contained the paragraph on not offering Halal or Kosher food in catering guidelines or anywhere else.
On the other hand, the last paragraph in the catering guidelines for the four menus said: “While we are always prepared to serve some last -minute guests, keep in mind that it will be charged for the guaranteed number of guests in case they attend less guests. If the guaranteed number of guests significantly decreases the original expected number of guests, the club reserves the right to change the most appropriate size.”
In addition, the comparison of the two documents showed that the club logo in the document shared on social networks was different from that of the document on the website.
The latter said “The Washington National Republican Club, DC”, but the text on the logo of the first was indecipible, which is common for the images generated using AI, as can be seen in the verifications of previous events here and here.
Similarly, the text in the supposed document shared on social networks had several errors, typographic errors and grammatical errors.
His initial paragraph said: “The Capitol Hill Club department offers. Members of the opportunity to organize meetings or banquets that go to intimate attractions to parties or receptions up to 300 guests.
Errors in the above include a period after the “offers”, the opportunity spent as “opportunity”, the arrangements spells as “attractive”, while the final sentence is incomplete and does not have a period.
Meanwhile, the initial paragraph in the website menus said: “The Capitol Hill Club Catering Department offers members the opportunity to organize meetings or banquets ranging from intimate meetings to parties or receptions for up to 300 guests. It will be our pleasure to help you plan any special event.”
The viral document is plagued by several other spelling errors and, in general, does not align with the text of the menus on the website.
Therefore, the verification of facts determined the statement that the catering guidelines of Capitol Hill Club mention that Halal or Kosher food is not FAKE.
The document of the alleged catering guidelines that are shared online is false, since it is full of errors and the menu, loaded on the website of the club, does not mention the same anywhere.
This fact verification was originally published by Iverify Pakistan, a CEJ-IBA and UNDP project.
