Karachi youth jailed for one year for ‘spreading false, fabricated information’ on social media to ‘incite violence’

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Monday convicted a man of spreading false and fabricated information and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment.

However, the court released him into the custody of a probation officer after he pleaded that he was the sole breadwinner of his family and the offence was committed due to “lack of knowledge and illiteracy”.

Accused Muhammad Ibrahim was booked in a case pertaining to running an “anti-state” campaign on social media platforms in February 2025 to incite “attacks on oil tankers” during a Sindhi nationalist party’s protest against a project to construct new canals.

Judicial Magistrate Gulraiz Memon (East) sentenced him to one-year imprisonment for committing the offence under Section 26-A (punishment for false and fake information) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and imposed a fine of Rs10,000.

Magistrate releases convict in custody of probation officer

Considering his plea and quantum of sentence, the court observed: “The convict is a young man, aged approximately 26-27 years, with a clean record…[and] he has no prior criminal antecedents and is a first-time offender.”

Reasoning for not sending him to jail, the judge noted that sending a young first-time offender to prison alongside “hardened criminals would frustrate the reformative purpose of modern penal jurisprudence”.

“Therefore, exercising discretion under Section 5 of the Probation of Offenders Ordinance, 1960, instead of sentencing the convict immediately to serve a term of imprisonment, it is directed that convict Muhammad Ibrahim be released on probation for a period of one year, under supervision of the probation officer, Karachi East,” the court ruled.

The court released him against the surety bond of Rs100,000 and directed him to maintain good behaviour and remain law-abiding during the probation period and refrain from committing any cyber offence or engaging in “illegal online activities.”

According to the prosecution, an inquiry was initiated against the accused for allegedly running an “online campaign inciting arson attack on oil tankers to cause public panic,” adding that on Feb 27, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) had raided the accused’s location and apprehended him and recovered his mobile phone.

After technical analysis, it allegedly revealed incriminating posts uploaded on a Facebook account named “Imran Sindhi”, which was allegedly operated by the accused, the NCCIA claimed.

They also alleged that the forensic extraction revealed stored cache data and specific digital artefacts containing subversive graphic materials attributed to “SindhuDesh Intelligent Service S.I.S inciting arson attacks targeting public oil tankers and threatening public infrastructure”.

During the trial, the accused denied the allegations and claimed he was falsely implicated in this case but he did not depose on oath nor did he lead his defence witness.

However, the court rejected the defence pleas and noted that the “unrebutted oral and forensic evidence establishes beyond shadow of reasonable doubt that accused Muhammad Ibrahim was knowingly maintaining and transmitting anti-state, public-disorder material via social media from his personal smart device.”

A case was registered at NCCIA under Section 26-A of the Peca read with Sections 506 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026