Investigators had earlier issued a warning about misinformation and speculation relating to the case, saying in a statement that a name being circulated online did not belong to the 17-year-old suspect…reports Asian Lite News
A journalist linked to the website that shared an article after last month’s Southport attack giving a false name for the knifeman has been charged. Authorities in Pakistan charged Farhan Asif after he was accused of spreading widespread disinformation said to have fuelled widespread riots in the UK using cyber terrorism.
Carnage was sparked after the Channel3now website falsely published the name of the suspected attacker in Southport in July, claiming he was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat. Children were brutally attacked during a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport on July 29, claiming the lives of three innocent young girls.
The youngest to be murdered was six-year-old Bebe King, who died along with seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine. Six other children were left in critical condition.
Following the horror attacks, EDL thugs sparked violence in the community after being spurred by a deluge of misinformation that spread like wildfire in the wake of the deaths of the horrifying attack.
Investigators had earlier issued a warning about misinformation and speculation relating to the case, saying in a statement that a name being circulated online did not belong to the 17-year-old suspect.
The hyperbolic “news” site Channel3Now reported the suspect was “a 17-year-old asylum-seeker” named Ali al-Shakati who arrived in the UK on a boat last year and was on “an MI6 watch list”. Now, according to the BBC, Farin Asif – who is thought to run the website Channel3Now alone – has been charged with spreading disinformation using cyber terrorism by Pakistani authorities.
An officer told the publication that Asif claims he wrote the article based on information copied from a UK-based social media account without verifying it. The country’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has since taken up the case and will investigate whether anyone further is involved.
The site was swiftly removed in the days following the horror attack at The Hart Centre in Southport. According to a previous investigation by ITV, Asif had denied being responsible for publishing false information, which sparked two weeks of far-right protests across the UK.
He told the news channel: “I don’t know how such a small article or a minor Twitter account could cause widespread confusion. Channel3Now mentioned that [the suspect was] a Muslim and an immigrant, but this has no connection to the chaos, which is being caused by people in his own country. If there was misinformation, it could have been addressed calmly. Why was there such an uproar?”
Days after the horror unfolded, Channel3Now was forced to issue an apologise for its actions as violent disorder left communities living in fear. In a statement on their website, Channel 3 Now said they took “full responsibility” for what they described as an “error”.
They wrote: “On 29th July, 2024, we published an article titled ’17-year-old boy arrested in connection with the stabbings in Southport, England’. Unfortunately, the information provided in that article was not accurate and did not meet our standards of reliability and integrity.”
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