A British court has convicted two Iranian nationals of gathering intelligence on London-based journalists and other targets to assist Iranian state security services. The guilty verdicts for 41-year-old Mostafa Sepahvand and 46-year-old Farhad Javadi Manesh were delivered on Thursday after a six-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court in south London.
Targeting Broadcasters and Regime Critics
Prosecutors detailed how the pair monitored several individuals critical of Tehran, including Mojtaba Pourmohsen and Kambiz Hosseini, who work as journalists for the Persian-language television network Iran International. The station has been formally banned by the Iranian government. The defendants also targeted Jonathan Turner, a founding member of the organization UK Lawyers for Israel.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that Sepahvand and Manesh conducted physical surveillance by visiting locations linked to their targets, taking photographs and videos, and using tools such as ChatGPT to gather online intelligence. A third co-defendant, 57-year-old Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, was cleared of all charges.
Growing Threat of Proxy Operations
According to Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counterterrorism division, the defendants were offered financial incentives to relay information to Iranian authorities. Ferguson added that Sepahvand was prepared to move beyond intelligence gathering to carry out a violent attack against at least one individual.
“This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime,” Ferguson stated.
London’s Metropolitan Police reported that this prosecution marks the fourth recent case involving direct threats directed at UK-based Iranian journalists. Vicki Evans, deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, noted that state-backed threats are escalating as foreign governments increasingly employ third parties.
“The threat from hostile states to the UK is increasing and Iran continues to adapt its approach to using ‘proxies’,” Evans said. She explained that authorities have observed individuals flying into the country temporarily to commit offenses, as well as the recruitment of British citizens or resident foreign nationals with settled status.
The convictions follow the UK government’s decision in July to ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) under expanded state-threat legislation, which carries penalties of up to 14 years in prison for assisting the group. Iranian operatives were also recently linked to a planned action against a US-operated military airbase in England.
Sepahvand and Manesh remain in custody and are scheduled to receive their sentences at the Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, on December 17.
