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

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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.