LAHORE: A judicial magistrate at district courts on Thursday extended physical remand of a man accused of playing a role in sharing disinformation that fuelled recent anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots in the UK.

A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cybercrime team presented Farhan Asif before the magistrate on expiry of his one-day remand.

The investigating officer stated that further custody of the suspect was nee­ded to recover evidence of the case. He asked the magistrate to extend the physical remand of the suspect for seven days.

Magistrate Imran Abid allowed the FIA request and extended the physical remand of the suspect for four days.

The agency registered a case against the suspect under sections 9 & 10 the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca) 2016, which deals with the glorification of an offence and cyber terrorism.

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 23rd, 2024