British ‘hitman’ found guilty of plotting to kill Pakistani activist

A British-Pakistani ‘hitman’ has been found guilty of conspiring to kill a Pakistani dissident in the Netherlands.

A court in London heard Muhammad Gohir Khan was offered £100,000 (about $134,000) to carry out the murder in Rotterdam last year.

However, he failed to track his target down, and was arrested on his return to the United Kingdom.

Now, a jury has given a unanimous guilty verdict of conspiracy to murder and he is set be sentenced in March.

The intended victim, Waqass Goraya, is a prominent social media activist and critic of the Pakistani military and government, living in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor Alison Morgan said Goraya, who lives with his wife and two children in the Netherlands, appeared to have been targeted for speaking out against the Pakistani government and military in satirical social media posts.

Khan was hired by “others who appeared to be based in Pakistan”, she told the jury.

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