PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Police in Pakistan have arrested a man accused of spreading false information online that fueled anti-immigrant riots in Britain.
Violence erupted across Britain this month after the deaths of three young girls in a July 29 stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England. Rumors quickly spread online that the assailant was a refugee and a radical Islamist, prompting right-wing mobs to attack hotels that house asylum-seekers, as well as mosques and libraries.
Farhan Asif was arrested in the eastern city of Lahore and charged with cybercrime, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency said in a report dated Tuesday and seen by NBC News. It said Asif had posted an article on the website for his publication Channel3Now falsely reporting that British police had arrested a Muslim asylum-seeker in connection with the Southport stabbings.
“The false claim, widely circulated in social media, spurred the far right section into violent rioting,” the report said.
Asif was also accused of reposting false information on his X account without verifying its authenticity and “with the intent of glorifying the incident.” Police said his actions “created a sense of fear” in Britain and damaged Pakistan’s reputation.
Authorities raided Asif’s house and seized two laptops and a mobile phone belonging to Asif, who “confessed his guilt” during an interrogation on the spot, the report said.
Asif told police the purpose of his X account was to share national and international news. The website appeared to be offline Wednesday, while there have been no posts on the X account since Aug. 12.
Asif had earlier told British broadcaster ITV that he was not responsible for the violence, saying, “I don’t know how such a small article or a minor Twitter account could cause widespread confusion.”
More than 1,000 people were arrested in connection with the British riots, almost 500 of whom have been charged. In a subsequent show of solidarity, anti-racism protesters flooded the streets, especially in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations.
The suspect in the attack, Axel Rudakubana, 18, was born in the Welsh capital, Cardiff, to Rwandan parents and had lived for years in a village near Southport itself, police said. Though reporting restrictions would normally have prevented authorities from naming Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the attack, a judge ordered that they be lifted in part to stop the spread of misinformation.
The motive behind the attack remains unknown.
Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar and Mithil Aggarwal from Hong Kong.
