LAHORE: A Pakistani man appeared in court Wednesday to face charges of cyber terrorism after allegedly spreading disinformation on his clickbait website thought to have fueled anti-immigration riots in Britain.
Farhan Asif was accused of publishing an article on his Channel3Now website falsely claiming that a Muslim asylum seeker was suspected in a deadly knife attack on children in the United Kingdom.
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 told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Initial investigations indicate that his sole intent was to make money through clickbait content.”
Asif appeared at a Lahore district court on Wednesday charged with cyber terrorism and was remanded to custody for one day, the official added.
The article with the false information was published on Channel3Now just hours after the attack and was widely cited in viral social media posts.
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.
Pakistan man faces cyber terror charge over false posts linked to UK riots
https://arab.news/mfkrx
Pakistan man faces cyber terror charge over false posts linked to UK riots
- Farhan Asif was accused of publishing an article on his Channel3Now website
- Article falsely claimed that a Muslim asylum seeker was suspected in a deadly knife attack on children in the UK
Venezuela’s Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado has left Oslo
- “She is no longer in the city of Oslo,” Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli wrote on X
- Machado, who has lived in hiding in Venezuela since August 2024, arrived in Oslo last week
OSLO: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, has left Oslo, a member of her entourage said on Wednesday without providing details of her whereabouts.
“She is no longer in the city of Oslo,” Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli wrote on X.
Machado, who has lived in hiding in Venezuela since August 2024, arrived in Oslo last week.
She was due to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in the Norwegian capital on Wednesday, but was delayed and did not make it in time.
According to a spokesperson, the 58-year-old opposition leader fractured a vertebra during her secret journey out of hiding in Venezuela to Norway.
She “is doing well and during these days she is attending medical appointments with a specialist as part of her prompt and full recovery,” Noselli said.
Machado has accused President Nicolas Maduro of stealing Venezuela’s July 2024 election, from which she was banned — a claim backed by much of the international community.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year for promoting democratic rights and “for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
