Pakistani detained over disinformation linked to UK riots

LAHORE: A judge extended on Thursday the custody of a Pakistani man accused of spreading disinformation on his clickbait website thought to have fueled anti-immigration riots in Britain, officials said.
Farhan Asif appeared in court for the second day in a row in the city of Lahore over allegations he published an article falsely claiming that a Muslim asylum seeker was behind a deadly knife attack on children in the United Kingdom.
He was remanded on Thursday for a further four days, an officer with the Federal Investigations Agency (FIA) who asked not to be named told AFP.
He has been charged with cyber terrorism over the post on his Channel3Now website, according to FIA documents seen by AFP.
UK authorities have blamed online misinformation for sparking days of riots which targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers, as well as police officers and other properties.
“He is a 31-year-old software engineer with no journalism credentials, apart from running the Channel3Now website, which served as a source of income for him,” a senior official at Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency earlier told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Initial investigations indicate that his sole intent was to make money through clickbait content.”
The article with the false information was published on Channel3Now just hours after the attack and was widely cited in viral social media posts.
The website is no longer accessible.
More than a dozen English towns and cities saw unrest and riots after the July 29 knife attack that killed three girls during a dance class in Southport.
The man charged with murder and attempted murder over the stabbing spree, Axel Rudakubana, was born in Britain to parents who hail from Rwanda, an overwhelmingly Christian country.
Officials have blamed far-right elements for helping to stir up the disorder.