Pakistani police charge man with cyberterrorism over Southport attack disinformation

Pakistani police have arrested a man and charged him with cyberterrorism for his alleged role in spreading disinformation relating to the Southport attack.

The suspect has been identified as Farhan Asif, a 32-year-old web developer, according to police.

Prior to his arrest, ITV News had confronted Asif regarding the accusations of what he posted onto social media.

He has been accused of spreading false information on YouTube and Facebook about the teenage suspect in the stabbing attack in which three young girls died and 10 others were injured.

The information incorrectly claimed the suspect was a recently-arrived asylum seeker and had a name suggesting the teen was Muslim.

Following the misinformation, a violent mob attacked a mosque near the site of the stabbing the next day.

Since then, riots broke out across the UK and more than 1,000 people were arrested and over 400 have been charged.

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Police then moved to clarify that the suspect had been born in the UK and was not seeking asylum.

The accusations had been posted to an obscure website called Channel3Now, which regularly publishes hyperbolic news stories under the pretence of being an American-style TV channel.

At a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore, police said on Tuesday that Asif was arrested at his house in the city for questioning.

They said Asif had claimed he was not the source of the misinformation but that he reposted it from social media.

Referring to the falsehoods reported about Southport, Asif told ITV News last week: "My understanding is that the article was deleted a day later, or it might have been done even earlier... there was a full article with an apology... It stated that it shouldn't have happened, that it was a mistake by our team, and that they have been fired."

"I think four people were fired," he added.

"The information search team, consisting of three-four people who worked on it together, were all fired."

Police have handed over the case to the Federal Investigation Agency, which handles cases relating to the cyberterrorism. It was unclear if Britain had requested his extradition.

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