UK man in plot to kill Pakistani blogger jailed for life

LONDON:

A would-be hitman was jailed for life in Britain after being convicted of plotting to kill a prominent exiled Pakistani blogger, prosecutors have said. Muhammed Gohir Khan, 31, was told he would serve at least 13 years in jail for conspiring to murder Ahmad Waqass Goraya last year, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Supermarket worker Khan, who denied the charge, was found guilty by a jury at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court in southwest London in January.

The trial was told Khan was recruited by middlemen apparently based in Pakistan, and that Goraya believed death threats he had received were led and orchestrated by Pakistan's ISI intelligence service.

Goraya has previously reported violent attacks and threats made against him. Khan, from east London, travelled to the Netherlands and spent days watching Goraya's home in Rotterdam and bought a professional chef's knife, the court was told.

He returned the UK after realising the blogger was away, and was promptly arrested.

British police liaised with the Dutch authorities to build up a dossier of his encrypted communications with middlemen on WhatsApp and Signal and security camera footage of his movements.

He claimed he only agreed to the £100,000 ($130,000, 119,000 euro) fee to kill Goraya because he needed money and never intended to carry it out.