 "Why Pakistan has arrested a man over UK’s Southport riots")
Over 1,000 people have been arrested across the UK for widespread riots and violence involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants.
The riots began after rumours spread online that three young girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in the northern English town of Southport on July 29 by an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain.
Though the suspect was eventually identified as Axel Rudakubana – a teenager born in the UK to Rwandan parents – the damage had already been done.
Right-wing influencers had pinned the blame on immigrants and Muslims and violence had occurred across the UK.
“There’s a parallel universe where what was claimed by these rumors were the actual facts of the case,” said Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, a think tank that looks at issues including integration and national identity.
“And that will be a difficult thing to manage.”
Now, police in Pakistan have arrested a man over the Southport riots.
But who is this man? Why has he been arrested?
Let’s take a closer look:
BBC reported that Pakistan police arrested one Farhan Asif for spreading misinformation that led to the violence.
Asif has been charged with cyber terrorism.
Police told the outlet that Asif had links to a website that put out a false name of the Southport attacker.
The website suggested the assailant was an asylum seeker who had recently arrived in the UK on a small boat.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe piece, published on the website Channel3Now, was widely quoted on social media after the attack.
It claimed that the attacker was on an “MI6 watchlist.”
As per The Telegraph, the piece claimed that the assailant was a 17-year-old named Ali al-Shakati.
According to Dawn, this claim was seen over 2 million times across social media before being deleted.
Asif was first linked to the piece by an ITV News investigation.
The website located Asif at a high-end housing estate on the outskirts of Lahore.
Asif initially denied writing the piece and taking responsibility for the violence.
As per Dawn, Asif claims to be an independent journalist covering crimes in the US.
A Facebook page of the same name says it is managed by people in Pakistan and the US.
“I don’t know how such a small article or a minor Twitter account could cause widespread confusion,” Asif told ITV News.
“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?”
Asif told the website four people lost their jobs over the piece.
“My understanding is that the article was deleted a day later, or it might have been done even earlier… there was a full article with an apology. It stated that it shouldn’t have happened, that it was a mistake by our team, and that they have been fired.”
“I think four people were fired,” he added. “The information search team, consisting of three to four people who worked on it together, were all fired.”
Channel3Now has since been shuttered.
However, Asif seems to have changed his tune.
According to BBC, Asif told Lahore police he wrote the piece based on information he got from a social media account in the UK.
He did not verify the information.
Asif also claimed that he alone ran Channel3Now.
‘Not intentional’
BBC got in touch with several people linked with the website and spoke to a person who claimed he was part of management.
This person told the outlet that the publication of the piece with the fake name “shouldn’t have happened, but it was an error, not intentional”.
According to Mirror UK, Channel3Now on its website said it took “full responsibility” for the “error.”
“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.”
Pakistan’s newspaper Dawn quoted officers as saying they think Asif copied the information from a social media post.
Asif has “admitted to providing misleading information to the BBC regarding his accomplices in an attempt to divert blame to others,” the outlet reported.
The Telegraph reported that Asif is now in the custody of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency.
A senior police official told the outlet “He was running a news website. Interrogation is underway.”
“He likely will be charged under the cyber terrorism section of Prevention of Electronic Crime(s) Act and will be produced before the relevant court after the interrogation is completed.”
AA.com quoted police as saying that Asif does not have a criminal record or a suspicious history of transactions.
Violence broke out in cities across England and also in Northern Ireland, but there have been fewer instances of unrest since last week after efforts to identify those involved were ramped up.
Many have been swiftly jailed, with some receiving long sentences.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said in its latest update that 1,024 had been arrested and 575 charged across the UK.
Those arrested include a 69-year-old accused of vandalism in Liverpool.
A 13-year-old girl pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court, prosecutors said, having been seen on July 31 punching and kicking the entrance to a hotel for asylum seekers.
“This alarming incident will have caused genuine fear amongst people who were being targeted by these thugs – and it is particularly distressing to learn that such a young girl participated in this violent disorder,” prosecutor Thomas Power said.
The last time Britain witnessed widespread rioting was in 2011, when the fatal shooting of a Black man by police triggered several days of street violence.
Fast and tough judicial action was viewed as helping quell the unrest in 2011, when around 4,000 people were arrested over several weeks.
With inputs from agencies
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