Southport attack: Pakistan drops disinformation case against Farhan Asif

Police say they cannot find evidence that Farhan Asif was the originator of the fake news.

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Police said they could not find evidence that Farhan Asif was the originator of the news and so were not continuing with the case.

Leaving a Lahore court on Monday, Mr Asif declined to answer the BBC’s questions.

Unrest broke out in England and Northern Ireland earlier this month, after disinformation spread about the name and identity of the alleged perpetrator of a stabbing attack in Southport in which three young girls died.

A BBC investigation had linked Mr Asif to a website called Channel3Now, which posted an article that included a false name for the alleged attacker, and wrongly suggested he was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat last year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gv48r6pk4o

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