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| Waqass Goraya left Pakistan for the Netherlands where he became a prominent critic of the Pakistani military. (Photo by= Waqass Goraya) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] A man has gone on trial in London, accused of plotting to kill a Pakistani blogger living in the Netherlands. A court heard that 31-year-old Muhammad Gohir Khan was hired as a "hitman" by figures said to be based in Pakistan, BBC reported. He was arrested last June and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder. Lawyers said the intended victim, Ahmad Waqass Goraya, had set up a blog on Facebook making fun of the Pakistani military and detailing painstaking human rights violations.
Kingston Crown Court heard that Mr Goraya, who was living in Rotterdam at the time, "was known for speaking out against the activities of the Pakistani government and appears to have been targeted for that reason". The jury was told that Mr Khan, a supermarket worker from East London, was heavily in debt - with the prosecution alleging he reacted "enthusiastically" to a proposal by a man named only as "MudZ" to kill the Pakistani political activist in exchange for £100,000.
Leading the prosecution, Alison Morgan QC, said in December 2018 Mr Goraya had received information from the FBI that he was on a "kill list" and that he had received threats online and in person, some of which he believed "were being orchestrated by ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence)", Pakistan's intelligence agency.
