LAHORE: A Pakistani judge on Monday acquitted a man who was charged with spreading misinformation that helped spark widespread rioting in the UK earlier this month, officials said.
The decision came less than a week after Farhan Asif, a 32-year-old web developer, was arrested in a raid on his home in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, and charged with cyberterrorism.
After a hearing Monday, the judge ordered the release of Asif, who walked free. He told the judge that he deleted his post on social media only six hours after realizing that it was not correct.
Federal investigators told the judge that they had no evidence to prove that he was guilty of intentionally spreading misinformation, Rana Rizwan, a defense lawyer, told reporters.
The Federal Investigation Agency had accused Asif of spreading misinformation on YouTube and Facebook about the British teenage suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three girls and injured 10 other people on July 29 at a dance class in northwest England.
Pakistani judge acquits a man over spreading misinformation that sparked riots in UK
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Pakistani judge acquits a man over spreading misinformation that sparked riots in UK
- The decision came less than a week after Farhan Asif, a 32-year-old web developer, was arrested in a raid on his home in Lahore
- Federal investigators told the judge that they had no evidence to prove that he was guilty of intentionally spreading misinformation
Pakistani students stuck in Afghanistan permitted to go home
- The border between the countries has been shut since Oct. 12
- Worries remain for students about return after the winter break
JALALABAD: After three months, some Pakistani university students who were stuck in Afghanistan due to deadly clashes between the neighboring countries were “permitted to go back home,” Afghan border police said Monday.
“The students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (northwest Pakistan) who were stuck on this side of the border, only they were permitted to cross and go to their homes,” said Abdullah Farooqi, Afghan border police spokesman.
The border has “not reopened” for other people, he said.
The land border has been shut since October 12, leaving many people with no affordable option of making it home.
“I am happy with the steps the Afghan government has taken to open the road for us, so that my friends and I will be able to return to our homes” during the winter break, Anees Afridi, a Pakistani medical student in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, told AFP.
However, worries remain for the hundreds of students about returning to Afghanistan after the break ends.
“If the road is still closed from that side (Pakistan), we will be forced to return to Afghanistan for our studies by air.”
Flights are prohibitively expensive for most, and smuggling routes also come at great risk.
Anees hopes that by the time they return for their studies “the road will be open on both sides through talks between the two governments.”
