"Nikhil Gupta plotted to assassinate a US citizen in New York City, said US attorney Jay Clayton. He thought that from outside this country he could kill someone in it without consequence, simply for exercising their American right to free speech. But he was wrong, and he will face justice. Our message to all nefarious foreign actors should be clear: steer clear of the United States and our people."
"Pannun, who serves as a lawyer at a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice, said in a statement that the guilty plea was judicial confirmation that the Indian government of Narendra Modi orchestrated an assassination plot on American soil. The Indian government targeted an American citizen for exercising first amendment rights organizing the Khalistan referendum, a peaceful political campaign advocating self-determination for Punjab The Modi government's transnational assassination plots to silence dissenting political opinion is an act of terrorism and attack on America's sovereignty,"
Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and money-laundering, and faces up to 40 years in prison. The charges stem from a failed attempt to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US resident who advocates for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India. Prosecutors allege Gupta was recruited and coordinated by an Indian government employee. Federal officials emphasized that attempting to kill someone in the United States for exercising free speech violates US law and will be prosecuted. Pannun characterized the guilty plea as judicial confirmation that the Modi government orchestrated a transnational assassination plot targeting peaceful political activists.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]