A Lahore resident, who had been arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for allegedly posting fake news which fanned the flames of hate and sparked riots in Southport, England, was released on Monday after investigators said he was "innocent".
On Monday, Farhan Asif, the suspect, was presented before a judicial magistrate after his four-day physical remand ended.
During the hearing, the FIA's investigation officer told the court that they had probed the matter from all sides and did not find any evidence against him.
The official said that an 'X' (formerly known as Twitter) handle named 'Bernie' had already shared the fake news regarding the three children killed in the UK, which had sparked the riots and that the suspect had merely shared it.
The court asked who did the suspect share the news with? Asif responded that he had deleted the news six hours after posting it.
After obtaining the written statement of the suspect and the investigation officer, the court approved a request to discharge Asif from the case.
After being discharged from the case, FIA officials unlocked the handcuffs on Asif in the courtyard of the court.
Asif had been charged with committing cyber terrorism and spreading fake news through a website known as 'Channel3Now'. An investigation conducted by British news outlet ITV and the BBC had alleged that the news posted by Asif on 'Channel3Now', in which a Muslim migrant who had arrived illegally in England aboard a boat was involved in the fatal knife attack on a Taylor Swift dance class.
In their investigation, Asif was confronted about the fake news report. Asif responded to questions by confirming that the news had been posted and that those responsible for posting it had been subsequently fired. However, Asif maintained that posting fake news was insufficient to spark riots at the scale they did halfway across the world in the UK.
However, the investigation claimed that Asif had a history of building fake news and clickbait websites that imitated popular news outlets and had even been named in past litigation involving Fox News. Days after the ITV investigation appeared, the FIA apprehended Asif in Lahore and confiscated his laptops and mobile devices for forensic analysis.