Pakistani facing cyberterrorism charge over misinformation that sparked UK riots

A Pakistani web developer has appeared in court in Lahore to face cyberterrorism charges after allegedly sharing information that sparked rioting in the UK.

Farhan Asif is alleged to have spread false reports that the suspect arrested in connection with the murder of three children in the northern England town of Southport was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat last year and was on an MI6 terrorist watch list.

The report incorrectly claimed the person the police detained was a 17-year-old named Ali Al Shakati, who was also known to mental health services in Liverpool.

The information came from a news website named Channel3Now, which was then followed by widespread violence, including an attempt to burn down a mosque in Southport.

Police issued a statement saying “this name is incorrect” and the suspect, who has now been charged was named as Axel Rudakubana, who was born in the UK to Christian parents from Rwanda.

Imran Kishwar, deputy inspector general of investigations in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, said officers arrested Mr Asif, a freelance web developer.

“He regretted over reposting fake news. This act on the part of Asif amounts to cyberterrorism for which he has been charged.”

A senior official at Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency said suspect has “no journalism credentials, apart from running the Channel3Now website, which served as a source of income for him”.

“Initial investigations indicate that his sole intent was to make money through clickbait content,” said the official.

Mr Asif appeared at a Lahore district court on Wednesday charged with cyberterrorism and was remanded to custody for one day, the official added.

Police have submitted the case to the Federal Investigation Agency, which handles cyberterrorism matters.

Federal investigators were granted permission by a court on Wednesday to further question Mr Asif for a day.

He is expected to appear before a court again on Thursday, when investigators are expected to seek more time to interrogate him.

When the UK's ITV News last week tracked Mr Asif down to a residence in Lahore, he denied responsibility for the violence.

“I don’t know how such a small article or a minor Twitter account could cause widespread confusion,” he said.

Channel3 Now is an account on the X social media platform that purports to be a news channel.

The site’s editor-in-chief posted an apology July 31 for “the misleading information published in a recent article on our website, Channel3 NOW. We deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused.”

The riots began after Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe were stabbed to death at a party.

As well as mosques, rioters in England and Northern Ireland also attacked a hotel that was housing asylum seekers and targeted immigrant communities and property, as they clashed with the police.

While many of those who took part insist they were not motivated by racism, many far-right linked social-media accounts appeared to be stoking the violence.