A British man has been found guilty of conspiring to murder a Pakistani dissident in the Netherlands. Muhammad Gohir Khan, from east London, was offered £100,000 to carry out the killing in Rotterdam last year, but failed to locate his target and was arrested upon returning to the UK.
The intended victim, Waqass Goraya, a prominent social media activist and critic of the Pakistani military and government, told the BBC he believes the Pakistani intelligence services were behind the plot. Goraya was abducted and tortured in Pakistan in 2017 by suspected intelligence agents.
Khan, who had debts of over £200,000, used coded language in WhatsApp messages with a middleman named Muzzamil, referring to the target as 'tuna' and discussing the need for a 'tool' or gun. The jury delivered a unanimous guilty verdict of conspiracy to murder, and Khan is set to be sentenced in March.
Goraya said the plot shows the Pakistani authorities' 'cowardice' and fear of dissenting voices. The Pakistani military did not respond to requests for comment, while the information minister declined to discuss the case.
The case highlights threats against Pakistani dissidents abroad. Academic Ayesha Siddiqa and lawyer Fazal Khan, both living in the UK, have received police warnings of credible threats to their lives, which they attribute to Pakistani intelligence.
