Nigel Farage tells court of fear after ‘death threat’ from migrant
Fayaz Khan who arrived in the UK on a small boat, is on trial, accused of threatening to shoot Nigel Farage.
The firebrand leader of the Reform UK party Nigel Farage told a London court he was “genuinely worried” after an Afghan migrant allegedly threatened to shoot him in a TikTok video.
Fayaz Khan, 26, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, is on trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court, accused of threatening to kill Mr Farage in October 2024.
Mr Khan had a “very large presence online” with his TikTok videos garnering hundreds of thousands of views, the court heard.
Prosecutor Peter Ratliff said Mr Khan’s videos last year focused on his attempts to reach the UK by small boat, a popular but deadly route used by thousands of people to reach British shores from France.
Mr Farage’s Reform UK has surged in popularity in polls this year, riding a wave of public discontent over record high migration levels as Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer struggles to curb the number of arrivals.
Last year, in early October, Mr Farage uploaded a YouTube video highlighting Mr Khan’s content and hitting out at “young males of fighting age coming into our country about whom we know very little”.
Mr Khan responded with a video in which he appeared to address Mr Farage and say: “I come to England because I want to marry with your sister … Don’t talk about me more. Delete the video.” Mr Khan then said “I’m going to pop, pop, pop” while making “gun gestures with his hand”, Mr Ratliff told the court.
According to the UK’s Press Association news agency, Mr Farage appeared in court wearing a dark suit and pink tie.
The Reform UK leader told the tribunal that he found the video “pretty chilling”.
“Given (Mr Khan’s) proximity to guns and love of guns, I was genuinely worried,” the politician said, adding the comment about wanting to marry his sister was “deeply misogynistic”.
Mr Khan, an Afghan national who had been living in Sweden since 2019, was arrested when he arrived in the UK on a small boat on October 31, after he “live-streamed” his small boat journey, a police officer told the court.
“By releasing his video to social media, the defendant plainly believed and intended that his threat would reach Nigel Farage,” Mr Ratliff said.
“And he plainly intended that Nigel Farage would fear that it would be carried out,” he added.
Mr Farage had a milkshake and a coffee cup thrown at him in two separate instances during last year’s election campaign
