World News
Blogger claims Pakistan behind attempted contract killing
An exiled political blogger on Friday accused Pakistan of plotting to kill a potential killer after he was convicted in a British court.
Supermarket worker Muhammed Gohir Khan, 31, was convicted of conspiring to kill Ahmad Waqass Goraya after being recruited by an intermediary apparently based in Pakistan.
A judge in Kingston-upon-Thames, southwest London, adjourned the case on March 11, with Khan facing life in prison.
Khan, from east London, was charged last June with conspiring with other unknown people to murder Goraya in the Netherlands.
He was arrested after returning to the UK by train.
Goraya, an outspoken blogger and liberal activist who has lived outside Pakistan for more than a decade, did not attend the hearing.
He said after the verdict that he was “pleased that there was at least a new precedent: ‘If you hunt down exiles, you will be prosecuted’.”
However, he said he was disappointed that the trial did not identify the perpetrators.
“I hope the real people who sent these people will one day be prosecuted as well,” he told AFP.
“I’m sure it’s the Pakistani government,” he said, pointing to the amount involved and what the mastermind knew about his secret location.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the sentence “could serve as a landmark sentence” and “a rare step in establishing criminal responsibility for transnational crimes against journalists”.
RSF UK director Rebecca Vincent said: “We call on the relevant authorities to continue their investigation to identify the intermediaries and anyone else involved in this horrific conspiracy and to ensure full criminal justice.”
Prosecutor Alison Morgan said Golaya, who lives in the Netherlands with his wife and two children, appeared to be targeted for his satirical social media posts against the Pakistani government and military.
She told the jury that Khan was employed by “other people who appear to be in Pakistan”.
In 2018, the court was told that Golaya had received information from the FBI saying he was on a “kill list” and believed that some of the threats he received were led and orchestrated by Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI.
The jury heard that Khan was contacted by a Pakistani middleman named Muzi who promised to pay £100,000 ($137,000, €120,000) for the “job”, of which he would cut £20,000 GBP.
He also promises wealth in “Jannah” or paradise.
Khan received thousands of pounds from a Pakistani bank account and promised: “Brother, I’ll do it.”
The court heard at the time his debts totalled more than £200,000.
British police liaised with Dutch authorities to build a dossier of his encrypted communications with the intermediary on WhatsApp and Signal, as well as security camera footage of his movements.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
Music
Winner of BTS’ Jungkook lookalike competition in Chicago is an all-too-familiar face as ‘lore runs deep’
On Sunday, The BTS Jungkook lookalike contest winner was crowned in Chicago. Impersonators sporting his signature piercings and tattoos swarmed the venue.
Social media personality Andrew Alexander, who’s previously been documented as sharing “striking similarities” with BTS’ Jungkook, won the K-pop star-focussed lookalike competition in Chicago on Sunday, November 24, 2024. (Instagram )
The chain reaction set off by YouTuber Anthony Po’s super-viral Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest in Manhattan on October 27, led fans to the K-pop chapter of this journey a month later.
On Sunday, November 24, the new US trend surrounding celebrity lookalike contests saw BTS’ Jungkook enthusiasts turning up for registration in droves. As the Hindustan Times (and several other outlets) previously reported, the event held at Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chicago, Illinois, handed out a $20 cash prize and a bottle of Soju to the winner. As it turned out, some older fans of the K-pop septet already knew the much-debated winner of the anticipated turnout.
A flurry of fan-shared videos and photos popped up online on Sunday (US time), capturing the three finalists in action as the trio, like other Jungkook impersonators showed up dressed in variations of black outfits. Ultimately, Andrew Alexander, a widely renowned YouTube sensation, was crowned the winner. Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, some BTS fans will remember the content creator from a years-old YouTube video, in which his sister “turned” him into the beloved K-pop group’s maknae.
Who is Andrew Alexander, the winner of Chicago’s Jungkook lookalike competition?
According to the social media personality’s YouTube videos, Andrew is a third-year university student living in California. He clearly flew into Chicago, especially for the Jungkook contest scheduled this week.
Over four years ago, Alexander’s sister, Ashley, posted a video titled “I turned my brother into BTS Jungkook,” as she highlighted how “a lot of people say he looks like” the K-pop star. Given their “striking similarities,” as reflected not only their resemblance (though not validated by a lot of fans) but also their mannerisms, Andrew’s other sister (presumably), Amber, said at the time, “It’s so funny every video we post, there’s at least 20 new people that are like ‘I don’t know if anyone’s ever said this but, Andrew looks like Jungkook’”.
However, Andrew himself did not admit to the similarities. That didn’t stop BTS fan pages from drawing comparisons between him and the BTS singer.
In a video posted before the viral winning announcement, Andrew’s sister documented the scene at the competition venue. Ashley wrote confirmed in the caption, “He flew from LA we flew from NY.” Ironically, the ultimate Jungkook lookalike contest participant was also registered as #7, a number that holds great emotional significance in the BTS fandom, given the group’s member count.
A netizen who’d had been a longtime fan of the Alexander siblings clan – all YouTube personalities – commented on one of Andrew’s posts on November 24, “been a fan since 2018,” as they added a reference to Ashley’s YouTube channel “ur mom ashley.”
In yet another video posted by Amber Alexander, she also recorded the full-circle moment: “He flew all the way from California for this (crying emoji) after years of getting comments saying he looks like Jungkook @andrewalexander WON THE LOOKALIKE COMPETITION.”
Hours before show time, Ashley also took to her TikTok profile (@aaashleyk), showing a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the family ‘Jungkook-ified’ Andrew by drawing the pop star’s famously known hand tattoos and suggesting that he needed a lip ring as well. For his final look, Andrew also showed up with Jungkook’s eyebrow and ear piercings.
Fans react to the winner being crowned for the lookalike contest
While some instantly approved the decision with comments like “Andrew is actually the ONLY one who looked like jungkook, the others literally have no similarity at all,” others who probably never tracked the siblings’ years-old digital footprints were lost why this win was especially gaining momentous traction online.
“If Andrew didn’t win, I would have hosted another one to make sure he won,” someone else wrote in the comments. Others quipped along the lines of how Jungkook had returned from the military and “Kinda crazy how they let Jungkook win his own lookalike competition.”
Those familiar with Andrew’s journey, definitely agreed with how the contest “cooked” with its final decision, especially since “the lore runs deep.” Who could’ve known that this was years in the making at a time when lookalike contests weren’t a norm?
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