Nigel Farage has called for an Afghan migrant jailed for making a death threat on TikTok to be deported.
The Reform UK leader said it was right to send Channel migrant Fayaz Khan back to his homeland after it emerged he had a slew of previous convictions for violence in Sweden, where he had been living for the last nine years.
Khan, who has a tattoo of an AK-47 on his left cheek, was handed a five-year jail term at Southwark Crown Court today for making a threat to kill the politician on social media last year, after Mr Farage highlighted his journey to the UK.
Khan initially apologised to Mr Farage during his sentencing hearing today, before launching an extraordinary expletive-laden rant at the politician and the justice system as he was taken down to the cells.
The length of the prison sentence means the Channel migrant now faces deportation by the Home Office, something Khan said he welcomed during his outburst upon being jailed.
Speaking to reporters outside Southwark Crown Court today, Mr Farage said: ‘He wants to be deported, he’d rather go back to Afghanistan.
‘That’s what he wants to do and we should satisfy that as soon as we can.’
Mr Farage said he was concerned Khan would be ‘free to walk the streets’ upon serving 18 months of his sentence, although Home Office policy states foreign offenders sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment for a criminal offence in the UK are automatically deported.
Channel migrant Fayaz Khan was convicted last week of making a threat to kill Nigel Farage during a TikTok video
Mr Farage arrived outside Southwark Crown Court to hear Khan be sentenced for making threats to kill him on TikTok
He was handed a further eight-month concurrent sentence after admitting one count of entering the country illegally, having previously made ten unsuccessful attempts to get to the UK, the court heard.
Judge Mrs Justice Steyn said Khan’s threat was not ‘spoken in the heat of an argument’, and added: ‘Your video was not merely abuse, it was a threat to kill with a firearm. It was, as Mr Farage put it, pretty chilling.’
Mr Farage was sat in court throughout the hearing, accompanied by a team of security guards.
Citing the examples of slain MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, she added: ‘Being a Member of Parliament is a vitally important public duty.
‘It is critical to a thriving democracy that the general public have access to Members of Parliament and politicians are not deterred from Parliament by threats.
‘Several MPs have been the subject of attacks and threats in recent years, and two Members of Parliament have been murdered.
‘When anyone makes a threat to kill a Member of Parliament, it is an exceptionally serious crime and will be treated as such.’
Khan, who claims to be 26 but is actually believed to be at least five years older, initially showed no reaction as his sentence was confirmed, but then launched an extraordinary expletive-laden rant at the judge, the police and Mr Farage.
He said: ‘You (Mr Farage) use me so that you can be Prime Minister.
‘I am going to go back to Afghanistan, I want to see my family.
‘I want to go back to my country.
‘I am not here to kill you.
‘The police are lying. You want to f*** my life, you want to put me in prison.
‘Send me back to Afghanistan, I don’t want to stay here.’
The judge temporarily left court while Khan was taken down to the cells, accompanied by dock officers, and loud thudding noises as Khan continued to shout.
The court heard Khan has previous convictions for offences including knife possession, minor bodily harm, threatening behaviour and vandalism in Sweden, where he lived since 2015.
He arrived in England on a small boat in October last year, livestreaming his journey.
He had an extant six-month jail sentence hanging over him by the time he fled for the UK, and gave a fake name to UK authorities upon arrival.
The court heard Khan, who has a three-year-old son in Sweden, has applied for asylum in the UK because his father is an associate of former Afghan president Hamid Karzai.
The court was also told the Taliban – who now run the Middle East nation – may come after him.
But the judge said she was sure Khan gave the UK authorities a false name and false date of birth ‘not because you were hiding from so-called enemies – if that was the case, you wouldn’t have livestreamed your journey on social media.
‘It is because you have a criminal record in Sweden.’
Khan said his crooked finger gesture was his trademark sign-off for social media, and nothing sinister towards Mr Farage
Wannabe influencer Khan took to social media after Mr Farage highlighted his plan to illegally enter the UK.
‘Gangster’ Khan could be seen to make a crook with his forefinger during the video and said he would ‘pop pop pop’ the man he referred to as ‘English man Nigel’ – claiming also he would ‘marry’ Mr Farage’s sister – something the judge today said was a ‘sexual threat’.
The high-profile politician said he was concerned Khan was going to try and shoot him and his family upon arrival in the UK.
Khan denied any malevolent intent, and said the ‘pop pop pop’ was his customary sign-off to his tens of thousands of followers on TikTok, and not a threat to Mr Farage.
But he was convicted of one count of making threats to kill by jurors last Friday.
The court heard the migrant claimed he livestreamed his journey to the UK to highlight how difficult it was and the risk involved.
But Prosecutor Peter Ratliff suggested it was more to do with encouraging others to make the same trip.
He applied for asylum in Sweden, but this was turned down – prompting him to head to the UK.
He was previously jailed for offences including using threatening behaviour towards a public servant, for carrying a knife in a public place and for using threatening behaviour.
The court heard Mr Farage posted a video highlighting Khan’s story and the ‘young males of fighting age coming into our country about whom we know very little’ in October last year, after being drawn to Khan’s content.
This prompted Khan to record his own response video two days later.
Addressing the camera, Khan said: ‘Englishman Nigel, don’t talk s*** about me.
‘You not know me. I come to England because I want to marry with your sister (sic).’
He signed off the video by saying: ‘I’m coming to England. I’m going to pop pop pop,’ and headbutted the camera.
Khan could be seen crooking his index finger as he made the ‘pop’ noise, something prosecutor Mr Ratliff said was intended to represent a gun and underline Khan’s sinister intentions.
Mr Farage later told police he was ‘potentially in fear for my life’ due to the threat against him and his family, adding the reference by ‘misogynist’ Khan to ‘marry with’ his sister was euphemistic.
The court heard Khan claimed he did not realise it was illegal to enter the UK by small boat, and used a false name when he arrived for processessing in Margate because ‘he had enemies he did not want to find him’.
Mr Ratliff said the reason was more likely because he did not want to alert authorities to his previous convictions.
He told police the ‘pop pop pop’ was not to do with guns, nor was he making a gun gesture in his videos.
Khan did not give evidence in his defence.
But his counsel Charles Royle said Khan made the gun gesture and ‘pop’ noise in multiple videos unrelated to Mr Farage because it was his ‘signature’.
The defence said Khan’s representation on social media was as ‘an entertainer’, trying ‘to play a part’ and earn a living off that.
