Court acquits Pakistani journalist arrested for disseminating fake news that led to UK riots

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - A Pakistani court on Monday discharged a local freelance journalist in a case that accused him of disseminating fake news that led to widespread riots and violence against the Muslim community in the UK following the stabbing of three young girls in the city of Southport, a court record said.

The court delivered the judgment after a report submitted by the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) absolved him of the charges.

Farhan Asif, who works for a digital platform, Channel3Now, was taken into custody in the northeastern city of Lahore last week.

According to the report, Asif was not the actual source of dissemination of the fake news, instead he had lifted the information from other social media, local broadcaster ARY News reported.

He had also issued an apology and deleted the post from all social media accounts, the report added.

His arrest came after UK broadcaster ITV News, in a report, accused him of being the source of the misinformation that the 17-year-old British-born suspect was an immigrant.

Local English daily Dawn, while citing an unnamed police officer, reported that the disinformation was first published on July 29 by kossyderrickent.com, a little-known tabloid, which posts reports about celebrities and trending topics in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, the US, Zimbabwe and India.

According to the officer, the fake news was later shared by a UK-based woman, who has previously been involved in spreading disinformation about COVID-19 and climate change on X.

Her X account also seems to be inactive, with the last post being made on Aug. 7.

Nationwide far-right protests erupted across the UK after the devastating attack on a children's dance class in Southport that resulted in the deaths of three young girls and left another eight injured on July 29.

Over 1,000 people have been arrested and nearly 600 charged in connection with the riots.​​​​​​​