Lahore court clears man of allegedly inciting UK riots through disinformation

A Lahore court on Monday cleared a man accused of spreading disinformation that allegedly contributed to recent anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots in the UK. The UK experienced widespread unrest following the tragic stabbing of three young girls in Southport.

Authorities began investigating the origins of rumours claiming that the 17-year-old British-born suspect was a Muslim immigrant who had entered the country illegally. These rumours were traced back to a little-known website, Channel3Now, which reportedly had connections to Pakistan.

UK media, including ITV News, pointed fingers at Farhan Asif, a Pakistani national, as the source of the misleading information. Asif was arrested by Lahore police and later transferred to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime wing.

On August 21, a Lahore judicial magistrate granted the FIA a one-day physical remand of Asif to investigate his alleged involvement in publishing the false news on Channel3Now’s website.

The next day, the court extended Asif’s remand by an additional four days to allow further investigation under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca) 2016.

After completing the remand period, Asif was brought before Judicial Magistrate Hamidur Rehman Nasir on Monday. The FIA’s cybercrime reporting centre, submitted a request to the court for Asif’s acquittal.

The request stated that after thorough interrogation, Asif was found innocent of the charges against him and urged the court to release him from the case. The court accepted the request, discharging Asif from the case and concluding the legal proceedings against him.