Attack on Pakistani human rights activist foiled in Rotterdam
An earlier version stated that Goraya sought asylum in the Netherlands. Goraya came to the Netherlands on a highly skilled migrant visa.
An assassination attempt on Pakistani blogger Ahmad Waqass Goraya was prevented by Dutch authorities this February in Rotterdam, NOS reported. Goraya is a human rights activist and a dissident from his home country. His name was found on a Pakistani hitlist.
Goraya is known for speaking out against the corruption in the Pakistani government and the disappearance of journalists and activists in Pakistan, especially on Twitter where he has more than 70 thousand followers. He came to the Netherlands with his family 14 years ago.
The hitman was said to be a British/Pakistani man who planned the attack together with others. He had managed to get as far as into Goraya’s apartment. When he was arrested in Great Britain, the suspect had just returned from the Netherlands. “There was a photo posted on Twitter that was made in my apartment”, Goraya said.
The suspect has since admitted to the British authorities that he had been hired to murder Goraya.
It was not the first time someone had tried to harm Goraya in the Netherlands. At the beginning of 2020, Goraya was beaten up on the street in an attempt by the Pakistani secret service to intimidate him.
The human rights activist said he wants the Dutch government to speak out about the attack on his life. “The government provides good witness protection but that is only half a solution”, he said. “It is terrifying that a foreign government has the power to take a human life in the Netherlands. The only solution is that the Netherlands stands up and says: Pakistan, we know what you are doing and how dare you take such actions on our soil.”
Pakistani dissidents have been subjected to attacks in the past. Activist Karima Baloch disappeared from her home in Toronto only to be found dead later in a lake. The body of Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain was also discovered two months after he disappeared.
In both cases, authorities ruled their death a suicide, yet NGOs and some politicians doubt their conclusion. “They were both threatened seriously and they disappeared under similar, mysterious circumstances”, Adam Shapiro from the human rights organization Front Line Defenders told NOS.
