Lahore: The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime wing has booked Farhan Asif, a resident of Lahore, on charges related to the recent anti-immigrant riot in the United Kingdom. Asif faces accusations of “technical assistance of cybercrime” for allegedly spreading misinformation about the identity of the perpetrator behind a violent knife attack in the UK.
Asif, who was arrested on Tuesday night in Lahore’s DHA area, is implicated in disseminating false information about the stabbing that occurred on July 29, 2024, which resulted in the deaths of three minor girls. This attack sparked a series of far-right riots across Britain, leading to assaults on mosques, asylum centers, and immigrant homes, and resulting in thousands of arrests.
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According to the FIR filed under Sections 9 and 10A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, Asif, employed by a news platform based in Pakistan, allegedly shared misleading content about the incident on social media. The FIR details that Asif’s post on X falsely attributed the stabbing to a 17-year-old Muslim boy named Ali Al-Shakti, who had reportedly migrated to the UK by boat in 2023.
The investigation, led by Additional Director Cybercrime Chaudhry Sarfaraz, revealed that Asif had confessed to sharing both photos of the stabbing and an erroneous article about the incident. The FIR also states that Asif attempted to deflect blame onto others during interrogation.
As part of the investigation in Anti-Immigrant riot case, two laptops and a mobile phone were seized from Asif. FIA sources indicated that Asif admitted to publishing a story on his news website without realizing its potential to go viral.
