Authorities in Pakistan have charged a man with cyber terrorism, in relation to disinformation thought to have fuelled UK unrest.
Police told the BBC that Farhan Asif was linked to a website which gave a false name for the suspected Southport attacker and suggested he was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK on a small boat.
The article, published on the website Channel3Now in the hours after the attack, was widely quoted in viral posts on social media.
Unrest broke out in England and Northern Ireland after the fatal stabbing attack, in which three young girls died.On Tuesday, police in Lahore said they had questioned Mr Asif about the article.
Mr Asif said he had written it based on information copied from a UK-based social media account without verifying it, a police officer told the BBC.
Mr Asif said that he ran the website alone.
Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency has since taken up the case and will investigate whether anyone further is involved.
