Multiple users on social media platform X have been sharing a purported document since Thursday, titled “catering guidelines” from the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC — where PTI founder Imran Khan’s sons recently dined during their visit to the US capital — claiming the club does not serve halal food. However, the document is fake.

Earlier this month, Imran’s sons — Sulaiman Khan, 28, and Kasim Khan, 26 — kicked off a campaign calling for their father’s release from prison. The siblings are currently in the US and holding engagements with lawmakers for this purpose in Washington, DC.

On July 25, the X account of PML-N Digital shared a post with an image of the two siblings at Capitol Hill Club, a private clubhouse in Washington, DC, with Republican Congressman Joe Wilson.

The post was captioned: “Imran Niazi’s sons’ illicit feasting”, with an additional claim: “Capitol Hill Club, where Kasim and Sulaiman ate, doesn’t even have halal food available.”

The post also shared an alleged document claiming to show the club’s catering guidelines.

The last paragraph of the document reads: “If the guaranteed number declines significantly, for the original expecteal guests should reserve the right to change the room to a more appropriate size. We don’t offer halal or Kosher food as per restaurant policy”

The post was shared at 11:32am, and the account is followed by PML-N’s official X account.

A similar post featuring the same alleged document and caption was shared a day earlier, on July 24, by an X user who is a PTI critic, according to his past posts.

The caption of his post said: “The biggest proof has arrived. Imran’s sons ate at the Capitol Hill Club, this is the club’s menu card, it details the food and also states that halal and kosher are not served in the club. So the meat was pork, the youth are indulging in forbidden food and lying.”

His post received over 63,000 views.

The alleged document and caption were further amplified by a regional PML-N official on X.

Pro-PML-N accounts also shared the same post, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Pro-military accounts also circulated the claim as can be seen here and here.

A social media influencer also shared the alleged document on X.

Additionally, it was shared on Facebook here and here.

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality, keen public interest in Imran’s sons and to address the potential harmful impact of such rumours about them.

Reviewing the document via fake image and AI detection tools such as Fake Image Detector showed that it flagged it as being “computer-generated or modified” while another version of the tool said the authenticity of the document was 25 per cent with the overall score at 66pc, which indicates a “moderate likelihood of manipulation”.

Checking the website of Capitol Hill Club around 12pm, none of its menu documents, from breakfast to lunch, dinner and reception, contained the paragraph about not offering halal or Kosher food in the catering guidelines or anywhere else.

Instead, the last paragraph in the catering guidelines for all four menus said: “While we are always prepared to serve a few last-minute guests, please note that you will be charged for the guaranteed number of guests should fewer guests attend. Should the guaranteed number of guests decline significantly from the original expected number of guests, the Club reserves the right to change the room to a more appropriate size.”

Furthermore, comparing the two documents showed that the logo of the club in the document shared on social media was different from that on the document on the website.

The latter read “The National Republican Club of Washington, DC” but the text on the logo of the former was undecipherable, which is common for images generated using AI, as can be seen in previous fact-checks here and here.

Similarly, the text on the alleged document shared on social media had several mistakes, typos and grammatical errors.

Its opening paragraph said: “The Capitol Hill Club Catering Department offers. Members the opporennity to host meetings or banquets ranging to intimate atrangements to parties or receptions up to up 300 guests. We a pleasure to assist you in planning any”

The mistakes in the above include a period after “offers”, opportunity spelt as “opporennity”, arrangements spelt as “atrangements” while the ending sentence is incomplete and does not have a period.

Meanwhile, the opening paragraph on the website’s menus said: “The Capitol Hill Club Catering Department offers Members the opportunity to host meetings or banquets ranging from intimate gatherings to parties or receptions for up to 300 guests. It will be our pleaure to assist you in planning any special event.”

The viral document is riddled with multiple other such spelling errors and in general, does not align with the text of the menus on the website.

Therefore, the fact-check determined the claim that the catering guidelines of the Capitol Hill Club mention that it does not serve halal or Kosher food is false.

The document of the alleged catering guidelines being shared online is fake as it is filled with errors and the menu, uploaded on the club’s website, does not mention the same anywhere.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.