Pakistani police have arrested a neighborhood freelance journalist who’s accused of disseminating faux news that led to widespread riots and violence towards the Muslim neighborhood within the UK following the stabbing of three younger ladies within the metropolis of Southport, an official mentioned on Monday.
Farhan Asif, who works for a digital platform, Channel3Now, was taken into custody within the northeastern metropolis of Lahore, native police chief Faisal Kamran advised reporters.
The arrest got here after UK broadcaster ITV News, in a report, accused Asif of being the supply of the misinformation that the 17-year-old British-born suspect was an immigrant.
Asif, whose social media accounts had now been disabled, denied the cost, saying he solely copied and pasted the news from a social media publish.
The accused advised ITV News that he had issued an apology and deleted the publish from all social media accounts, however the disinformation was stored being shared by different customers, garnering views on-line.
The police have handed him over to the Federal Investigation Agency for additional probe, Kamran mentioned.
Asif has no earlier legal document or suspicious transaction historical past, the police mentioned.
Local English each day Dawn, whereas citing an unnamed police officer, reported that the disinformation was first printed on July 29 by kossyderrickent.com, a little-known tabloid, which posts stories about celebrities and trending matters in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, the US, Zimbabwe and India.
According to the officer, the faux news was later shared by a UK-based girl, who has beforehand been concerned in spreading disinformation about COVID-19 and local weather change on X.
Her X account additionally appears to be inactive, with the final publish being made on Aug. 7.
Nationwide far-right protests erupted throughout the UK after the devastating assault on a kids’s dance class in Southport that resulted within the deaths of three younger ladies and left one other eight injured on July 29.
Over 1,000 individuals have been arrested and practically 600 charged in reference to the riots.
Source: www.anews.com.tr