Khan chronicled his journey from Sweden to Britain via the English Channel on social media and live streamed his crossing to the UK on a small inflatable boat, the prosecution said in court today.
“This was not a threat spoken in the heat of the argument,” Judge Karen Steyn said during the sentencing.
“You implied you were a mafia leader and made further shooting noises and gestures. This was a threat to kill Nigel Farage.”
The verdict comes as politicians across the political spectrum face increasing levels of abuse.
A government report found that 96% of sitting lawmakers had experienced some form of abuse while carrying out their job. In 2021 Conservative MP David Amess was stabbed to death at a constituency meeting.
The judge said it is critical for a thriving democracy that members of parliament are not deterred from performing their duties. “When anyone makes a threat to kill a member of parliament, it is an exceptionally serious crime.”
Farage’s Reform has led the British polls since April and YouGov’s latest survey gave giving it a seven-point lead over the ruling Labour Party.
Over his 25-year political career, his parties have consistently taken a strong anti-immigration line, with a recent focus on asylum seekers.
Reform’s “Operation Restoring Justice” promises to deport as many as 600,000 asylum seekers in his first term of government by taking Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights – a key post-war international treaty.
“The fact is that in 18 months’ time this violent criminal - somebody with 17 convictions in Sweden - in 18 months’ time he will be in this country, living in a house of multiple occupancy or a hotel, free to walk the streets while his asylum claim is judged,” Farage told reporters outside Southwark Crown Court.
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