Lahore court sends Farhan Asif on one-day remand for fueling anti-immigration riots in UK

Accused charged of cyber terrorism after allegedly spreading disinformation on his clickbait website

LAHORE:

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s cybercrime wing on Wednesday filed a cyberterrorism case against a Lahore resident in connection with the recent violent anti-immigrant riots that rocked the United Kingdom.

The police have requested a 14-day remand of the suspect for further investigation and evidence recovery. However, the judicial magistrate granted only a one-day remand, directing the investigating officer to “complete the investigation positively” and present the suspect in court on August 22.

Farhan Asif, who has been taken into custody, is accused of disseminating misinformation regarding the identity of the alleged perpetrator involved in a knife attack that claimed the lives of three young girls on July 29, 2024, in the UK.

The event sparked widespread unrest in the country, leading law enforcement agencies to investigate the origins of the disinformation, which is believed to have come from a website linked to Pakistan.

UK media identified Channel3Now, an obscure platform, as the source of the false information, which wrongly claimed that the British-born 17-year-old suspect was a Muslim immigrant who had entered the UK by boat. ITV News later reported that the actual source of the story was a Pakistani individual.

Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Faisal Kamran confirmed that local authorities are scrutinising the claims made by ITV News and have initiated a formal investigation.

The first information report (FIR) filed by the FIA identifies Farhan Asif as the X user responsible for spreading the misinformation. The FIR reveals that Asif “admitted to providing misleading information to the BBC regarding his accomplices in an attempt to divert blame to others.”

During a raid at Asif’s residence, authorities seized two laptops and a mobile phone. A technical analysis confirmed that the Twitter account "Channel3Nownews," linked to the misinformation, was active at the time.

According to the FIR, Asif “confessed his guilt” during interrogation, stating that he managed the ‘Channel3Nownews’ account “with the purpose of sharing national and international news.” He claimed that he had simply reposted a tweet from another account titled ‘Bernie.’

The FIR has been registered under Section 9 (glorification of an offence) and Section 10a (cyberterrorism) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016. The charges relate to actions intended to coerce, intimidate, or create fear, panic, or insecurity among the public or the government.