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Following the conviction of a would-be assassin in a British court, an exiled political blogger accused Pakistan of being behind a conspiracy to kill him on Friday.
Muhammed Gohir Khan, a supermarket employee, was convicted guilty of planning to kill Ahmad Waqass Goraya after being hired by intermediaries stationed in Pakistan.
The case was adjourned for sentencing on March 11 in Kingston-upon-Thames, southwest London, with Khan facing life in prison.
Khan, from east London, was charged in June of last year with plotting to murder Goraya in the Netherlands with unknown others.
After returning to the UK by train, he was detained.
The hearings were not attended by Goraya, an outspoken blogger and liberal activist who has resided in the United States for almost a decade.
“I’m delighted that there is at least a new precedent: ‘if you come after someone in exile, you will be convicted,” he said following the unanimous jury verdict.
However, he expressed disappointment that the trial failed to identify the perpetrators of the crime.
“I hope the real people who sent these individuals be tried as well,” he told AFP.
“I am confident it is the Pakistani state,” he claimed, referring to the large sums of money at stake and the plotters’ knowledge of his hidden location.
The verdict, according to Reporters Without Borders, “may serve as a landmark judgement” and is a “rare step toward establishing criminal liability for global crimes against journalists.”
“We call on the competent authorities to continue their investigations, to identify the middleman and anybody else engaged in this horrible conspiracy, and to ensure that full criminal justice is carried out,” Rebecca Vincent, RSF’s UK bureau director, stated.
On Friday, UK police issued a public request for information about the person who approached Khan through a middleman.
‘Enthusiastic’
Prosecutor Alison Morgan said Goraya, who lives in the Netherlands with his wife and two children, seems to have been targeted for satirising Pakistan’s government and military on social media.
She told the jury Khan was hired by “others who appeared to be situated in Pakistan.”
Goraya told the court in 2018 that he had gotten information from the FBI that he was on a “death list,” and that he felt some of the threats he was receiving were being led and orchestrated by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI.
According to the verdict, Khan was contacted by Mudz, a Pakistan-based middleman who promised a $137,000 (120,000 euros) compensation for the “task,” with Mudz taking a 20,000 pound cut.
Khan was also promised wealth in “Jannah,” or paradise, according to him.
Khan got a sum of money from a Pakistani bank account for expenses, promising: “Bro, I’ll make it happen.”
The court was told that he owed more than 200,000 pounds at the time.
On Friday, the Metropolitan Police Service in London issued a public call for information on “Mudz,” claiming that police believe he is a former business associate of Khan known as Muzzamil.
Counter-terrorism investigators from the Met worked with Dutch counterparts to compile a dossier containing thousands of encrypted messages and security camera footage of Khan’s travels.
Khan spent days in Rotterdam, watching Goraya’s house and buying a professional chef’s knife, after travelling to the Netherlands on Eurostar.
After realising the blogger was gone, he returned to the UK.
Khan admitted sending the messages and travelling to Rotterdam during his trial, but pleaded not guilty.
He stated, however, that he was merely after money and had no intention of harming anyone.
Morgan stated, “He was eager about carrying out the killing to earn the money and to carry out future attacks.”
Goraya has previously stated that he has been the victim of violent assaults and threats.
He claimed in 2017 that he and four other activists were tortured while held captive for weeks in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s military has denied any involvement in the incident.
Goraya told AFP on Friday that after learning of a threat to his life, he and his family had to go immediately.
“Everything must be altered, and a fresh beginning must be established. You’re surrounded by strangers for safety concerns “He didn’t hold back.
