Law enforcement forces have arrested a Lahore resident accused of running a website which posted a fake news story which was used to fan violent riots by extreme right-wingers in the UK late last month.
A local court has granted a one-day physical remand to law enforcement forces for further investigations into the matter.
The issue pertains to a Lahore resident identified as Farhan Asif. Earlier this month, an investigation conducted by ITV and the BBC found that a fake news report posted by a news website called Channel3Now last month. The news report was posted soon after reports emerged that a young man had allegedly launched a mass assault, stabbing several people at a Taylor Swift dance training school. The attack left at least three children dead. The fake news, however, purported that the culprit (who had been arrested by police but was not publicly identified because he was a minor) was an illegal Muslim immigrant who had arrived in the UK on a boat.
The news report fanned hateful sentiments amongst the extreme right-wingers in the UK who are against immigration and or are prejudiced against members of the Muslim communities. This is why, during the subsequent riots in South Port and Northern Ireland, some mosques were attacked and the local Muslim and other racially diverse communities were attacked.
United Kingdom's Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned and vowed action against 'far-right thuggery'.
In an interview with ITV, Asif denied that the report published by the website he worked for had caused the riots, even though he admitted that the news report published carried incorrect information. He further claimed that at least four people linked with the publication of the erroneous report had been fired by the organisation. However, after the ITV investigation, the news website was taken offline.
Arrests in Lahore
The report lodged by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which led to Farhan Asif's arrest, said that FIA officials, during 'cyber patrolling', they came across a Twitter (now called 'X') account @Channel3 Nownews titled "Channel3 Now" shared the images of a video regarding an incident which took place in Southport England.
"The X /Twitter user @Channel3Nownews further posted an article on his website www.channel3now.com with the caption, "17-year-old Ali Al Shakati arrested in connection with a stabbing incident in Southport, England"," the report claimed, adding that the article contained a false claim about the arrest of a Muslim asylum seeker by police in the stabbing incident in Southport on July 29.
"The false claim, widely shared in social media, spurred the far right section into violent rioting," the official report claimed.
FIA claimed the Twitter account user was identified as Farhan Asif, a resident of Phase-4, DHA, Lahore.
Officials claimed that during questioning, Farhan Asif admitted that he had posted the news report and cooked up the story that other team members had posted the story and had been fired by the organisation to avoid blame.
"Farhan Asif admitted to providing misleading information to the BBC regarding his accomplices in an attempt to divert blame to others."
Based on the report, the FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Centre Lahore Incharge constituted a team comprising Ghulam Mustafa Naseer, Technical Assistant; Muhammad Tanveer, HC; and Iftikhar Ahmad, HC/Driver, under the supervision of Sub Inspector Najam Ashraf. After obtaining search warrants from the relevant court, the team raided the suspect's home.
Upon knocking on the door, an individual identified as Farhan Asif emerged. The raiding team detained him and then proceeded to search his house. During the search, two laptops and a mobile phone, which were in the suspect's possession, were recovered.
FIA Technical Assistant Ghulam Mustafa Naseer analysed the recovered digital media and gave a technical opinion that the suspected Twitter account 'Channel3Nownews' was found active and had been used to share the alleged post.
During questioning, FIA claimed Farhan Asif confessed his guilt and admitted running the Twitter account 'Channel3 Nownews' to share national and international news.
Asif allegedly told the FIA that he copied the news from another Twitter account, @Bernie, where the alleged tweet was already shared, and that he just retweeted the post from his account. He further claimed that the post was also shared by a website, www.Kossyderrickent.com.
However, FIA said the suspected failed to justify whether he checked the authenticity of the alleged material.
Officials took the recovered digital media (laptops and mobile phones) into custody.
"Prima facie, the alleged person found involved in disseminating the information using his own Twitter account 'Channel3 Nownews' with the intent to glorify the incident about the arrest of a Muslim Asylum seeker by police in the stabbing incident in Southport, England and created a sense of fear, panic, insecurity in the government and the public of the said region which further caused to damage the reputation of Pakistan, thus the accused committed offences u/s 9,10(a) of PECA-2016," FIA's report accused.
PECA Section 9
Glorification of an offence:-(l) Whoever prepares or disseminates information, through any information system or device, with the intent to glorify an offence relating to terrorism, or any person convicted of a crime relating to terrorism, or activities of proscribed organisations or individuals or groups shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years or with a fine which may extend to Rs10 million or with both.
PECA Section 10
Cyber terrorism. Whoever commits or threatens to commit any of the offences under sections 6. 7, 8 or 9, where the commission or threat is with the intent to:
(a) coerce, intimidate, create a sense of fear, panic or insecurity in the government or the public or a section of the public or community or sect or create a sense of fear or insecurity in society
In the request to the relevant court, the FIA requested a 14-day physical remand of the suspect to probe the matter and recover the relevant material.
However, a Lahore district court - where Asif was presented by the investigation officer in the case - granted FIA custody of the suspect for 24 hours "in the larger interest of justice".
The investigation officer was directed to complete their investigation and present the suspect again before the court on August 22, 2024.