LAHORE   -   A local court on Monday ordered immediate release of a web developer accused of disseminating misleading information about the identity of the killer of three innocent girls in the Southport area of England after the Federal Investigation Agency’s cyber crime wing dropped the charges against the accused declaring him innocent.

It was alleged in the FIR lodged against Farhan Asif that his fake news had triggered a massive unrest in the UK, bringing shame to Pakistan. The FIA team on Monday presented the accused in the court after completion of a four-day physical remand.

Investigating Officer Najibullah Niazi stated before the court that the news had already been shared by other social media platforms, and Farhan simply reposted it. He was thoroughly investigated, but no evidence was found against him. The court inquired with whom and when he shared this news and when he deleted it. The accused responded that he deleted it six hours later and issued an apology. The court accepted the plea to discharge Farhan Asif from the case and acquitted him from the charges. The FIA’s cyber crimes wing’s stance before the court has established one thing - reposting any misleading information without confirmation of its accuracy is not a crime.  

Following his acquittal, Farhan, a freelancer, announced a break from the work. He stated that his only fault was retweeting a tweet. Commenting on the allegations about the fake news case, Farhan Asif said that when he tweeted, there was already three to four million traffic on it. However, upon realizing his mistake, he apologized and deleted it. He emphasized that his only mistake was retweeting the tweet.

He mentioned that he has received his laptop and mobile back, and he was now heading home and taking a break from work for the time being. Farhan Asif also said that he was on remand for four days and that the court has acquitted him.

The charge sheet earlier submitted by the FIA stated that during the cyber patrolling, a twitter account @Channel3Nownews titled “Channel3 Now” shared the images of a video regarding an incident that happened at Southport England.

The X formerly tweeter user @Channel3Nownews further posted an article on his website www.channel3now.com with the caption, “17-year-old Ali Al Shakati arrested in connection with a stabbing incident in Southport, England.”  The said article contained a false claim about the arrest of a Muslim asylum seeker by police in the stabbing incident in a dance party in Southport on July 29, 2024. The false claim, widely shared in social media, spurred the far-right section into violent rioting. The user of the said X account is identified as Farhan Asif s/o Asif Quddus resident of Phase-4, DHA, Lahore.

The charge sheet additionally claimed that Farhan Asif admitted to providing misleading information to the BBC regarding his accomplices in an attempt to divert blame to others. Subsequently, the FIA arrested him after raiding his home besides seizure of his laptop.

During the on-spot interrogation, Farhan Asif confessed his guilt and pleaded that he runs his twitter account ‘Channel3Nownews’ with the purpose of sharing significant national and international news. He picked the alleged news from another twitter account i.e. @Bernie where the alleged tweet was already shared. He just retweeted the post in accordance with his account. The post was also shared on the website www.Kossyderrickent.com. However, the accused failed to justify the authenticity of the alleged material before posting on social media platforms.