• A Lahore court discharged Farhan Asif, who was accused of spreading disinformation that allegedly fuelled recent UK riots.
• Police say they do found no evidence that Asif was the originator of the news.
On Monday, a Lahore court discharged a man accused of fuelling recent anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots in the UK through disinformation.
Following riots in the UK after the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, investigations revealed that disinformation allegedly came from a Pakistani-linked website. UK media reports pointed to Channel3Now as the source, falsely claiming that the British-born 17-year-old suspect was a Muslim immigrant who arrived by boat. ITV News had identified a Pakistani individual as the originator of the false news.
Farhan Asif, who was detained by Lahore police and handed over to the FIA’s cybercrime unit, was initially granted one-day physical custody on August 21 for allegedly posting misleading information on Channel3Now. The case was registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca) 2016, and Asif’s remand was extended for four additional days the following day.
However, police stated they could not find evidence linking Farhan Asif to the origin of the news and thus decided to discontinue the case. As Mr. Asif left a Lahore court on Monday, he declined to respond to the media’s questions.
During Monday’s court session, police revealed that Mr. Asif was a freelancer for a private channel and that their investigation showed he had shared news from a different social media account in the UK.
