UK man found guilty of plot to kill exiled Pakistani blogger

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has hailed a British court's conviction of a UK supermarket worker for involvement in a plot to kill self-exiled Pakistani political blogger Ahmad Waqas Goraya, saying it could be a "landmark judgement."

Muhammed Gohir Khan, 31, was found guilty on Friday of being a would-be hitman recruited to kill Goraya, who is living in the Netherlands.

What did RSF and Goraya say of the verdict?

In a statement on the rights group's website, Rebecca Vincent, RSF's director of international campaigns and UK bureau director, said: "We welcome the jury decision in this case, which is a rare step towards establishing criminal accountability for transnational crimes against journalists."

"Far too often exiled journalists are forced to live in fear in the face of continued threats from the countries they escaped," she said, adding: "It is well past time to end impunity for such atrocious threats."

Goraya himself also welcomed the decision. "The British court has validated what we've been saying for a while: That Pakistani dissidents abroad are being targeted," he told DW.

"It's the collective responsibility of the EU, Dutch, and UK governments to take this matter up with Pakistan. The investigation must not stop here — people should know who designed and financed this plan," he added

"I strongly suspect the state of Pakistan, its intelligence agencies, are behind this plot. The FBI had informed me and several other dissidents based in France, the UK and Canada of a kill list originating from Pakistan," Goraya said.

Who is Ahmad Waqas Goraya?

Goraya is an outspoken blogger and liberal activist who founded and co-administrated Mochi, a satirical Facebook page, which he used to campaign for human rights and religious freedom in Pakistan.

The activist left Pakistan years ago and moved to the Netherlands. He has not been back in his home country since 2017, when he and five other bloggers were abducted and later released in Islamabad. He has said he was tortured during his captivity.

According to RSF, he was told by the FBI in 2018 that he was on various "kill lists."  

What was the plot?

According to prosecutors, Khan, from east London, was offered tens of thousands of dollars by a Pakistan-based middleman known as Mudz to carry out Goraya's murder.

Khan, who was heavily in debt, was said to have accepted the offer and traveled to the Netherlands on the Eurostar train to commit the crime. He then spent days watching his intended victim's home in Rotterdam and bought a professional chef's knife for use in the planned murder, the jury was told.

After realizing the blogger was not at home, he set off for the UK again, being arrested on his return.

UK police on Friday appealed to the public for information on the middleman, who they believe could be a former business associate of Khan.

Khan is to be sentenced on March 11 and could face up to life in prison.