LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has booked a man accused of playing a role in sharing the disinformation that fuelled recent anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots in the UK.

On Wednesday, a judicial magistrate allowed FIA one-day physical custody of Farhan Asif, who is accused of uploading a misleading news article on the website of Channel3Now.

An FIA cybercrime team presented the suspect before a magistrate and sought his physical remand for investigation.

The investigating officer told the court that a case had been registered against the suspect under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca) 2016.

Magistrate grants FIA one-day custody of Farhan Asif

Judicial Magistrate Imran Abid allowed FIA’s request and granted the suspect’s one-day physical remand.

Initial investigation revealed that Farhan, who has no journalism credentials, worked for a website that earns money through clickbait content.

Investigators said the suspect had also shared photos of a stabbing incident in England on his X account, besides posting an article on the website, holding a 17-year-old Muslim immigrant responsible for the attack.

The suspect was initially taken into custody by Lahore police and later handed over to the FIA cybercrime wing.

UK broadcaster ITV News had previously accused the Lahore-based freelancer of being the source of the content that sparked race riots across the UK, but a BBC investigation and law enforcement analysis suggested that he did not play the primary role in the dissemination of the information, which had been shared by at least two other sources prior to Channel3Now.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2024