Pakistani court extends custody of man charged over Southport misinformation
22 August 2024, 14:24
Farhan Asif is charged with cyber terrorism.
A court in Pakistan has allowed investigators to question a man in their custody for four more days about his role in spreading misinformation that sparked rioting in the UK.
The court’s decision came a day after authorities charged the suspect Farhan Asif, 32, with cyber terrorism following his arrest from his home in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province.
Asif, who is a freelance web developer, was produced before the court amid tight security. He was not allowed to talk to the media.
Kiran Muqeem, a prosecutor for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), told the court that Asif did not co-operate with officers after the same court the previous day allowed them to question him for a day. They demanded his custody for two weeks but the court said it would only allow it for four more days.
Mr Muqeem later told reporters that Asif disseminated fake news and caused riots in parts of the UK.
Asif was handcuffed and wearing blue shalwar kameez garments when brought to the court.
His lawyer Rana Rizwan told reporters that the court remanded his client into the custody of the federal agency in a hurry and without hearing him.
“We were informed by the court that the case of Asif would be taken up after lunch break. But the court took up the matter before the lunch break, and allowed the FIA to keep him in their custody,” Mr Rizwan said.
Asif is accused of spreading misinformation from YouTube and Facebook about the British teenage suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three girls and injured 10 other people on July 29 at a dance class in Southport.
The false information claimed that the suspect was a recently arrived asylum-seeker and had a name that suggested he was Muslim. After the misinformation led to a violent mob attacking a mosque near the site of the stabbing the next day, police took the unusual step of clarifying that the suspect was born in the UK.
British media has widely reported that his parents are from Rwanda and are said to have Christian beliefs. Channel3 Now, an account on the X social media platform that purports to be a news channel, was one of the first outlets to report the false name, Ali Al-Shakati.
A Facebook account for the channel said it is managed by people in Pakistan and the US. But, officials say Asif was solely running Channel3 Now, and he spread misinformation to gain more viewers.
