(22 Aug 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lahore, Pakistan – 22 August 2024
1. Various of local court in Lahore, people walking around and police searching those entering court building
2. Various of court, Farhan Asif’s lawyers and and official
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rana Rizwan, Farhan’s Asif Lawyer:
"This case is about cybercrime (against) our client Farhan Asif, who is charged under Section 9 and 10-A of 2016. Today, the proceeding was very poor because, in our absence, the judge has given four-day remand to FIA (Federal Investigation Agency), which is very unlawful."
4. Cutaway, sign board of judge’s name, reading (English) “Imran Abid Judicial Magistrate Section 3O, District Courts Lahore – Criminal Cases Court“
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rana Rizwan, Farhan’s Asif Lawyer:
"Our client is very innocent, and a normal citizen of Pakistan. He unintentionally shared a tweet news of X account, which is channel of UK."
6. Farhan Asif under FIA custody being escorted down stairs after the hearing
7. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Farhan Asif, suspect:
"It was originally tweeted by Bermie, I just copied and pasted it."
8. Asif’s hands handcuffed
9. Asif being escorted to car with his head covered
STORYLINE:
A court in Pakistan on Thursday allowed investigators to question a man in their custody for four more days about his role in spreading misinformation that sparked widespread rioting in the U.K. earlier this month, officials said.
The court’s decision came a day after authorities charged the suspect Farhan Asif, 32, with cyber terrorism following his arrest from his home in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province.
Asif, who is a freelance web developer, was produced before the court amid tight security.
Kiran Muqeem, a prosecutor for the Federal Investigation Agency, told the court that Asif did not cooperate with officers after the same court the previous day allowed them to question him for a day.
They demanded his custody for two weeks but the court said it would only allow it for four more days.
Muqeem later told reporters that Asif disseminated fake news and caused riots in England.
Asif was handcuffed and wearing blue shalwar kameez garments when brought to the court.
His lawyer Rana Rizwan told reporters that the court remanded his client into the custody of the federal agency in a hurry and without hearing him.
Asif is accused of spreading misinformation from 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.
The false information claimed that the suspect was a recently arrived asylum-seeker and had a name that suggested he was Muslim.
After the misinformation led to a violent mob attacking a mosque near the site of the stabbing the next day, police took the unusual step of clarifying that the suspect was born in the U.K.
British media has widely reported that his parents are from Rwanda and are said to have Christian beliefs.
Channel3 Now, an account on the X social media platform that purports to be a news channel, was one of the first outlets to report the false name, Ali Al-Shakati.
A Facebook account for the channel said it is managed by people in Pakistan and the U.S.
But, officials say Asif was solely running Channel3 Now and that he spread misinformation to gain more viewers.
AP video shot by Jahanzaib Aurangzaib
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