YouTuber Adil Raja held in UK for terrorism charges

• Raja's lawyer says ex-army officer released after brief detention.
• UK police act on complaints filed by Pakistani authorities. 
• Source says probe underway and no details to be made public.

LONDON: Social media activist and YouTuber Major (retd) Adil Raja was arrested by UK police on suspicions of encouraging acts of terrorism in Pakistan, The News reported.

However, the ex-army man was released after questioning in brief detention, his lawyer Mahtab Aziz confirmed.

While speaking at a press conference, Aziz said that Raja had been arrested from his home and detained at a police station in relation to complaints filed with UK authorities by the Pakistani government. He said that the YouTuber was released after being questioned by the police.

“In Pakistan, a serious terrorism-related warrant was issued against him [Raja]. Such allegations are very serious. I came to know on Tuesday he had been arrested by the police." 

"The manner Adil Raja has been arrested, I believe, it falls under anti-terrorism laws. This doesn’t mean he’s guilty of terrorism, but this means the UK had to act against Adil Raja based on information and intelligence they received (from Pakistan)," he said.

Meanwhile, a police source said the investigation was underway, and no details would be made public at this stage.

Aziz further stated that under the anti-terrorism laws, the UK police have to act if they get intelligence. He said the police take away all gadgets when they conduct raids in such cases.

“I tried all his numbers but they were not working. He has been released, but there are certain conditions on social media use, even in some cases mobile phone use is banned.”

Moreover, a Pakistan-based diplomatic source said counter-terrorism police arrested Raja on complaints made by Pakistani authorities that he was involved in incidents of incitement of violence, disorder and terrorism in the country using social media platforms, including Twitter and YouTube.

On Wednesday afternoon, Raja tweeted saying he was well but didn’t say anything about his arrest and release.

This reporter understands the UK government has received multiple complaints about Raja from Pakistan, but the government increased pressure on the UK after May 9 attacks on Pakistan Army by PTI supporters.

The latest of these was regarding the riots of May 9, which were triggered after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was arrested from the premises of Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a £190 million settlement case.

Raja and other activists raised hateful and anti-state sentiments via social media, and the Pakistani government complained to the UK authorities. The complaint added that the vocal PTI worker had tried to destabilise the country by spreading fake news.

Raja, who was once the spokesman of retired servicemen, reached UK over a year ago after the parliament voted PTI chief's government out. 

He became a vocal supporter of the party and spoke out against the coalition government. It soon became clear that he didn’t see eye to eye with his former institution and started actively using social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

He became famous on YouTube and Twitter after he started publishing content that became controversial and sometimes related directly to serving military generals.

Raja became an unapologetic critic of the establishment, and soon his following rocketed on YouTube, where he hosted his show on a daily basis and claimed to have inside news of the military ranks.

This content was often denied by military sources but circulated widely on social media. He spoke with passion and like a firebrand but erred into making news and claims which were factually not correct and devoid of facts.

His issues with the state authorities became tense, who accused him of publishing fake news on social media platforms for views and ratings, while Raja maintained that he had sources who passed the news to him.

Some of his videos about alleged manoeuvrings in the military and the government clocked millions of views.

Several complaints were filed against him by Pakistan authorities on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube over the last several months. Things came to a head when Pakistan Army came under violent attacks on May 9 by PTI activists and leaders who stormed army installations.

Raja featured prominently in the media warfare around the events leading up to May 9 and the aftermath, where he challenged the state authorities openly. 

While Twitter took no action, YouTube and Facebook shut down his channels about 10 days ago over complaints that he had run fake news and was involved in encouraging acts of violence and disorder through the use of his social media platforms.

It was over the same events that now the UK government has acted against him.

The UK Terrorism Act 2000 defines terrorism, both in and outside of the UK, as the use or threat of one or more of the actions, including serious violence against a person; serious damage to property; endangering a person’s life; creating a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public; activities designed to seriously interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.

The Terrorism Act 2006 (2006 Act) created a number of new offences. These new offences include the offences of encouragement of terrorism, dissemination of terrorist publications, an offence of the preparation of terrorist acts, and further terrorist training offences, terrorist threats relating to devices and materials or facilities.