UK Jails Afghan Migrant for Threatening Reform Leader Nigel Farage

DID Press: A British court has jailed 26-year-old Afghan migrant Fayyaz Khan for five years after finding him guilty of threatening to kill Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party.

Khan was convicted at Southwark Crown Court over a TikTok video posted in October last year in which he purportedly mimed firing a weapon at the camera and referred to a tattoo of a gun on his face while making threats against Farage. The footage — posted from an account under the name “madapasa” that attracted hundreds of thousands of views — formed a central part of the prosecution’s case.

The defendant admitted entering the UK illegally in a small boat but denied the charge of making a threat to kill during his trial. Jurors, having reviewed the video evidence and content from his social media account, found him guilty.

At sentencing, Khan angrily protested his innocence, telling the judge: “I am innocent. I want to put my life right. I want to go back to Afghanistan and see my family. I did not come here to kill anyone. I have a child.” He also addressed the judge directly, saying: “Do you want to ruin my life to become prime minister? You have destroyed my life.”

Prosecutors had argued the video constituted a credible and menacing threat against a public figure and pointed to the wide reach of the clip on social media. Defense counsel had urged the court to consider Khan’s background and denied that the footage represented a genuine intention to commit violence.

Khan, who had been living in Stockholm since 2019 before arriving in the UK, was sentenced for the offences of making threats to kill and for distributing violent content online.

The five-year custodial term reflects the court’s assessment of the seriousness of threatening behaviour amplified by social media, and serves as a reminder of the legal consequences of violent or menacing content posted online.