Lahore court discharges suspect in UK riots disinformation case

A Lahore court on Monday discharged a man in a case of allegedly fuelling the recent anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots in the UK through disinformation.

More than a week after the UK witnessed widespread riots in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, law enforcement agencies began probing claims that the disinformation originated from a website with a footprint in Pakistan.

Reports aired by UK media identified little-known platform Channel3Now as the source of the disinformation that claimed the British-born 17-year-old suspect was a Muslim immigrant who had arrived in the UK on a boat.

UK broadcaster ITV News had asserted that a Pakistani individual was the originator of the false news story. Farhan Asif was taken into custody by Lahore police last week and later handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime wing.

On August 21, a judicial magistrate allowed the FIA Asif’s one-day physical custody for being suspected of uploading a misleading news article on the website of Channel3Now.

The investigating officer had told the court that a case was registered against the suspect under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca) 2016. The next day, a court had extended Asif’s physical remand for four more days.

Upon the completion of his remand today, Asif was presented before Judicial Magistrate Hamidur Rehman Nasir.

A request seeking Asif’s acquittal from the case was submitted before the judge by Najibullah Niazi, a sub-inspector at the FIA’s cybercrime reporting centre.

The request recalled that Asif was arrested on August 20 and was interrogated during his five-day physical remand.

“The suspect was found innocent in the said case,” it concluded, urging the court to issue orders that he be discharged from the case.