No, image doesn’t show Pakistani student being lynched for 'refusing to convert to Islam'

(Trigger Warning: This story includes references to violence and sexual violence that may be distressing for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.)

What is the claim? 

A viral image online claims to depict a Pakistani student who was allegedly raped and lynched on May 15 for refusing to convert to Islam. The image depicts a wounded man on the ground, encircled by an irate crowd, with one individual holding his foot.

This post was widely shared on X (previously known as Twitter), with the caption, “May 15 Sargodha, Pakistan. A university student was raped and murdered after refusing to convert to Islam. #blasphemy.” Archived versions of similar posts can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshots of the viral posts. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, this claim is false. The man in the viral image was lynched to death due to suspicions of his involvement in suicide bomb attacks on two churches in Lahore, Pakistan.

How did we find the truth?

A reverse image search of the viral image revealed that it was taken on March 15, 2015, in Pakistan, in the aftermath of suicide attacks on two churches in Lahore. The image was captured by Reuters photographer Mohsin Raza and was published with a description of the incident on the news agency’s website on March 20.

The photographer's first-person account vividly described how an incensed crowd lynched and burned two men following suicide bomb attacks on two churches in a Christian-majority suburb of Lahore. The men were killed on suspicion of involvement in the attacks—which led to the deaths of 16 people and injuries to 80 others, according to the report.

A report by The Guardian dated March 15, 2015, stated that Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Guardian report quoted Nabila Ghazanfar, a spokeswoman for the Punjab police, as saying, “According to the crowd, these two suspects were attempting to attack these churches. They were first beaten up and then set on fire; in fact, they were burned to death.”

No recent reports were found about university students being lynched in Pakistan.

The verdict

The viral image depicts a crowd lynching a man to death suspected of involvement in suicide attacks on two churches in Lahore. The incident occurred in 2015, and a first-person account by the Reuters photographer who took the image further confirmed its authenticity. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.