Afghan man found guilty of threat to kill Reform UK leader Farage in TikTok video

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LONDON (Reuters) -An Afghan national was on Friday found guilty of making a threat in a TikTok video to kill Nigel Farage, the leader of the populist Reform UK party which leads opinion polls in Britain.

Fayaz Khan, 26, was convicted by a jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court of a single count of making a threat to kill Farage in a video posted in October 2024.

Prosecutors said Khan posted a video in response to one by Farage, in which Khan – who has an AK-47 assault rifle tattooed on his face – said “pop, pop, pop” while making gun gestures.

Farage gave evidence on Tuesday that he was “genuinely worried” about Khan’s threat, describing the video as “chilling”.

Khan will be sentenced next week for making a threat to kill and an additional charge of entering Britain illegally, to which he previously pleaded guilty.

FARAGE IN THE WITNESS BOX

Farage had posted a video on YouTube in which he spoke about “young males of fighting age coming into our country”, which included clips from videos Khan had posted of his journey from Sweden to Britain.

Two days later, Khan posted a response in which he stated “Englishman Nigel, don’t talk shit about me”, made gun gestures and headbutted the camera.

Farage said that being a high-profile politician had made him a target for criticism: “Abuse is part of public life, (but) that’s not something that I’m used to seeing.

“Given his proximity to guns and love of guns, I was genuinely, genuinely worried.”

Khan’s lawyer Charles Royle suggested to Farage that Khan’s video “suits your narrative”, to which Farage replied: “It doesn’t suit my narrative, it’s a fact.”

Khan pleaded not guilty and had told police after his arrest that his video was not a genuine threat and that he played a character in his social media posts. But the jury convicted him by a 10-2 majority.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Hugh Lawson)